Desert Roses Have Thorns: Version 2
by Silver Wolf2
Summary: This was a re-written version of Desert Roses, I got into some problems and began again. This continues on from Nine Lives my last fic whic you must read before reading this. Currently in the process of editing what's been written already. 4 5 are up.
1. Desert Roses Have Thorns Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this fic except for Ebony who is my creation. All others belong to Konami and Mr. Kojima who came up with Metal Gear.

Desert Roses Have Thorns.

Chapter 1.

Snake couldn't help but smile when he heard Meryl's laughs as he watched her from the backdoor. The huskies charged after her barking and howling their welcomes, ignoring Meryl's drowned shouts that she had no time and was too tired to play. Snake turned to leave Meryl outside as she battled her way, wading through them to the enclosure gate.

"Better change…" Snake reminded himself looking down at the sneaking suit. It had been rendered useless now, all torn up by bullets, stained with blood, reeking of burned cordite, sweat, and death.

"It would only remind me of Shadow Moses anyway." He mumbled to himself, trudging into his room, hunting for the zip at the collar. Snake breathed with a sigh as he removed the garment, glad to get out of the tight fitting uniform. It was almost like shedding skin the way an insect or reptile does to reveal a new one underneath. Instead, Snake was casting off fighting and war from himself. Maybe there would be a new him underneath, somebody who didn't have to fight anymore? Then again, bitter experience from the past told him not to be quite so hopeful.

He looked up, back into the mirror. He hadn't quite got rid of combat yet. Meryl was standing in the doorway behind Snake, observing him and his reflection as he searched around in himself for the new Dave he was expecting. Snake was startled for a moment when he saw her in the mirror, peered down at himself not sure if it was playing tricks on him and not telling him the truth. It was perhaps tiredness that was inducing the feeling but the whole mess he'd just returned from felt like one sick dream.

The scrapes and bruises were all there. It hurt when he touched a darkened purple patch on his skin; the pain was real enough to not be a figment of his imagination. Battered all over and shot, the bandages clinging onto him spoke their own part of Liquid's drive to kill Snake.

"They'll heal…" Snake smiled back at Meryl over his shoulder. Meryl shook her head and walked up to him slowly, raising her hands up, stopping hesitantly and began to put them down to her sides again, finally deciding to carefully and delicately rest them on his shoulders. She deliberately kept a little distance between them as Snake turned around to face her.

"I don't know how you do it. Liquid could have…" Meryl was silenced as Snake gently put his finger against her lips.

"He could have but he didn't." Snake answered softly and lowered his hand. Meryl took hold of it giving him a serious look, examining the black bruises over the knuckles and gently rubbed around where the skin had burst open from his fight against Liquid.

"He came pretty close to it…" Snake finally confessed, slipping his free arm around Meryl.

She let go of his hand.

"C'mon, let's fix you up properly." Meryl forced a smile. "He never gave me much time to patch you up and I'll make a better job of it without shaky hands!" She laughed as they both made their way to the kitchen where the first-aid kit was kept. Snake sat down in a chair he pulled back from the table.

"Not that one." Snake called over to Meryl as she pulled open a cupboard door. "It's that one…there…" Meryl turned her head to look at him.

"This one?" She pointed to the cupboard beside the one she had just opened.

"Spot on. Everything is in there. I had hoped not to ever use it, but it was a good idea to stock up for the Iditarod."

"I guess that's on hold for this year, huh?" Meryl asked as she filled up a basin with warm water, pouring a generous amount of antiseptic into it.

"It's disappointing but there are more important things to do now." Snake continued as Meryl put everything on the table and sat down by his left-hand side.

"It was okay when you were knocked out; I knew you wouldn't feel anything…" Meryl told him as she rooted around in the box and placed some bandages and scissors out on the table ready for her to use.

"But it's gonna hurt this time?" Snake finished for her and smiled.

"Well, maybe." Meryl grinned back.

"Look I know I'm not your regular soldier but they did remember to give me a pain threshold." Snake chuckled lightly as Meryl began to unravel the bandages around his left arm. He watched on as the deep gash the bullet had torn out was revealed, still weeping, and tender. It brought back memories when he had been hit in a training accident, the first time he'd ever been shot. That had come as something of a shock to him back then, but now dodging bullets was just something he did when fighting.

Meryl splashed about in the water with a wedge of cotton wool, a warm scent rising up each time. She turned back to clean the dried blood around the wound, slowly working her way onto the wound, stopping every time she noticed Snake's eyes beginning to water or the muscles in his jaw moved with him gritting his teeth. Neither spoke to each other, Snake decided it was just best to let Meryl get on with it, without him distracting her. Meryl only asked if the dressings and bandages were on comfortably, and Snake simply grunted his answers.

Meryl sat back after finishing bandaging his right arm, pushing her red hair out of her eyes with the back of her hand.

"He really hated you, didn't he?" Snake was too distracted for a moment, fidgeting with the new white dressing on his side.

"Yeah." He simply answered, assuming it was Liquid she was talking about.

"Y'know…" Meryl began again putting the first aid box on her knee, throwing empty wrappers onto the table and sorted the contents so all the sterile packets were grouped together. "…he told me why he hated you. How you two were…" She faltered looking for the right word to say.

"Conceived?" Snake suggested, raising his eyebrows. Meryl nodded. "I don't think that's even the right word to describe how Liquid and I came to be. Maybe he was right. Maybe we were a joke to the scientists who made us. Make one better than the other, give them the same face, sit back, watch them grow up and see what happens when you put them in a battlefield together."

Snake sat holding his head trying to overcome the realisation. He'd never had much chance to see what it meant. Created in a laboratory and on the notebook of a scientist, made to requirements, the blueprint for a soldier held inside each and every one of his cells.

"It… it makes me feel like…" Snake stopped to mutter to himself a second. "…like I'm unreal. Artificial. A freak." He blurted aloud.

"Freak?" Meryl frowned at him. "Don't say that about yourself! The fact that you started life in a lab doesn't mean I think you're any more or less human. It doesn't change what I think or feel about you." She sat back and smiled at him as he peered up again.

"Now if you start growing extra arms or legs then I would change my mind and start thinking there was something not right about you!"

They both laughed for a few second, before quietening down once more. Meryl put a hand on Snake's shot leg getting his attention. The bandage poked out of the tear in his trousers, blotched with dull red.

"One left. It shouldn't take long, okay?" Meryl said and carefully lifted his leg up onto her lap, unwinding the layers of flimsy gauze wrapped around a pad of cotton wool over the ripped flesh.

Snake leaned forwards to have a look, wrinkling his nose up at the mess. He'd seen things like it before. Seeing this on other people didn't bother him so much, but when he saw injuries like it on himself or his friends, it was a different story entirely. Meryl was hunched over paying closer attention, delicately dabbing away with a ball of soaked cotton wool. Snake felt warm drops splash onto his skin around the wound. He didn't notice at first thinking it was just moisture from the cotton wool Meryl had in her hand. Her head was hung over to see what she was doing; her hair hid most of her face from Snake's view. In the light shiny drops fell from her face. Snake reached over slowly to hold her hand and stopped what she was doing.

"Meryl? He asked soothingly and wrapped both hands around hers. Meryl sat up, glanced quickly at him, and looked down at some invisible spot on the floor.

"I'm sorry… it's just every time I look at you now. The bruises on your face. The gun shots. I'm always reminded of him." Meryl spat out the words. "Kidnapping me, telling me how he always thought about what he would do to you, the things he said. I hate him!" She finished with a shout. Meryl took a breath. "Liquid's gone now." And rubbed her eyes with her knuckles, the rest of her hands were messy with dissolved blood and tore off a fresh wad of cotton wool, soaking it in the water.

"Ready?" She asked Snake.

"Huh?" Snake looked up at her as she held the sodden cotton wool out to him.

"I don't know… this might hurt more so do you want to do it yourself?" Meryl asked softly.

No, no. Go on ahead. It'll be okay." Snake insisted and shuffled around in his seat. Meryl carried on to clean where the bullets had gone in. Snake clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, closing his eyes against the water that ran into them.

"You alright?" Meryl asked.

"…Yes…" Snake finally answered, still with his eyes shut tight.

"You won't admit it hurts!" She teased with a faint mocking smile.

"Meryl…" Snake growled at her opening one eye.

"Sorry!" Meryl smiled and began to wrap clean bandages around his leg, holding the dressings in place.

"There, I'm all done." She said sitting back up.

Snake slowly stood up, testing his shot leg and put more weight on it. By the way he limped around, it was clear that it was still very painful to walk or even stand on. He didn't intend on doing much for the next few weeks so there'd be plenty of time for recovery. He had got rid of fighting for now by retreating back home, but it would leave its mark on him. The scars he'd have after the healing would still remain, and the memories would come back later. They would not ever completely disappear. Snake had only just started to leave battle.

Meryl started to clean up as Snake hobbled away to change into other clothes.

He reappeared in jeans and a shirt walking further down the hallway with a shiver to the boiler stored away inside a closet. A quick examination made Snake furrow his brow and hit the boiler with his good hand.

"Damn. No wonder it's freezing in here…" He growled softly to himself.

"What's that?" Meryl asked and peeked over his shoulder, standing up on tiptoe.

"Oh. Bad, right?" She asked him.

"Yeah, no heating now I'm afraid. I can't fix it just now, I don't think I've got everything I need. Real smart of me to not check before winter set in." He sighed and turned around to face Meryl.

"Are you still wearing that?" She laughed and reached up to untie the bandanna around his head, running her fingers through his hair.

"Do you want to keep it?" She asked him holding it out to him.

"Yeah… please." Snake said taking it from Meryl and folded it up carefully. "…It's kind of special."

"If it's so special, why do you wear it when you go to fight?" Meryl questioned him.

"Why not? I like it and I guess it's like a lucky charm too." Snake said quietly.

Meryl stood back a little, somewhat surprised at what she'd heard him say.

"Lucky? Don't tell me that the man who's now stopped three Metal Gears thinks that a little thing like that has helped to make it possible!" She laughed. Snake rolled his eyes.

"It's just special okay. Don't give my secret away!" He hissed and smiled jokingly.

"And who's around to know?" Meryl smiled again as Snake put an arm around her waist.

"Just you…" He whispered.

"Only us…" Meryl added. Snake nodded, a faint grin spread across his face. Meryl shivered with the cold.

"Come on, I'll get a fire on and it won't be so cold." Snake walked past her and turned around. "Just wait in the sitting room, I won't be a minute."

Meryl sat herself down in the living room down in front of the fire hearth. Snake went back through the kitchen and into the back porch. He returned minutes later carrying armfuls of kindling, logs, and old newspapers.

"Thanks." He muttered as Meryl grabbed some of the logs and put them in a heap beside the fireplace

They both crouched down, scrunching up paper, placing kindling in amongst the papers. Meryl reached round Snake's back from where she was kneeling next to him, slipping her hand into his back pocket for his metal cigarette lighter.

"Hey!" He laughed. Meryl grinned cheekily at him holding the lighter up and lit the paper. She put it back in his pocket and sat back.

"Any excuse huh?" Snake grinned back at her sitting next to her. Satisfied that the fire was not going to die out, he threw on a couple of logs and waited for them to catch fire.

Meryl stretched out her legs, wriggling her toes while she warmed them in front of the fire. Snake had slinked off into the kitchen, noiselessly. It wasn't until Meryl heard cupboard doors being opened and shut, the click of a kettle after it boiled away that she noticed he'd disappeared.

"One sugar, milk." Meryl called to Snake, as she looked through the door to the kitchen.

"I remembered." Snake said to her when he returned and held out a mug. Meryl answered with a soft 'Thank you' and closed both hands round its sides taking a sip.

"Better?" Snake asked as he sat back down next to her putting his arm around her shoulders. Meryl relaxed and leaned into him, taking another mouthful of coffee.

"Yeah."

The next time Snake peered into his mug, it was empty. Neither had spoken for a while, but it had not been an uncomfortable silence, just peacefully enjoying each other's company.

He placed the cup down to one side, put both arms around Meryl, and noticed something that he had not seen in her a few minutes ago. A sad mournful look in her eyes. Right at the back, deep in her green irises.

"Hey." he whispered. "Still thinking of what happened back there?" Snake tucked Meryl's hair behind her ears and out of her face. She nodded a little and looked up hopefully. "Liquid's gone remember?" He added.

"No more fighting?" Meryl asked gently.

Snake was stung by the question and swallowed nervously. He had feared that she would ask him that question but never so soon. He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. It was something he hadn't really thought of yet and wasn't sure of what to say.

"I…I…" He started off slowly.

"_What do I say?" _He thought to himself.

Meryl waited expectantly holding both of his hands.

"I… I really don't know." Snake finally gave his answer, slowly and quietly. He let his head fall to avoid Meryl's gaze.

"After Zanzibar I had made that promise to myself that I would never fight again. I had really thought that I'd escaped war. But it found me again and it took me into Shadow Moses." He looked up again to see what Meryl's reaction was. Her face remained blank.

"I'd love to say that there won't be anymore for certain, but I really do not know. Meryl…I'd rather make a promise I _know _I can keep than lie to you." He halted for second. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Meryl replied softly as Snake rested his cheek on top of her head, hugging her a little tighter.

"Dave?" Meryl's voice broke the sound of the fire as it crackled and sparked away.

"Yes?" It seemed like a long time since he'd heard her use his real name.

"Will you…still protect me?"

"Of course I will." Snake laughed. "That promise I can keep."

"I promise I will protect you." He said firmly. "Always."

"Meryl." He called after a while. She looked round at him with a smile. Snake waited, inwardly thinking what it was he had to say to her but decided to leave it for another time. For him it was too soon and instead he leaned over and kissed her gently.

"I don't mean to sound dull…" He yawned and got up onto his feet with a stretch. "…but quiet night tonight, please?" Snake asked her. He knew that the next few days would be the worst; everything he took in the fight would show up. Meryl eyed him up and down, an understanding expression on her face.

"Yeah, I know." She answered quietly and threw another log onto the fire. "I'm staying up a little longer."

Snake stood looking out the window.

"It's going to be a cold night though." He muttered to himself as the snow came down in a blizzard.

"Goodnight Meryl." He called to her, limping away to bed.

"Oh yeah. Night."

§§

"This is it then? Shadow Moses Island." A small figure muttered to herself, stopping for a moment at the top of the island to survey the area. The woman was wrapped in several layers of white arctic combat gear, padded out to keep the biting wind at bay. The buildings were all floodlit in the blizzard, white light slicing through the darkness. What puzzled the new arrival was the absence of heavily armed patrols; there was nobody like that anywhere to be seen.

"What if I'm on the wrong island? I wouldn't be surprised at all. That man I questioned about this place probably wouldn't be able to tell me his name after I'd finished with him."

But how many islands in Alaska had facilities like this on them? Not many she imagined. So what had happened?

"No this isn't like him at all. He would never be so lazy and even with this snowstorm he would put guards on patrol. Never too many so that it would like he was using them to hide any paranoia. FOX-HOUND only demands the best from their members and they would have nobody like that leading the unit." She thought to herself and went on searching for a way inside.

All she knew about his latest mission was that his unit had been called in on the development of Metal Gear. Despite it being a secret and forbidden project, Ebony couldn't think of one mercenary who didn't know something about Metal Gear, Big Boss or the legend that had brought both of them down. The man called Solid Snake. Like a game of Chinese whispers, the facts had been mixed with myth making it impossible for anybody to decide which stories were true.

"Liquid talked about him didn't he?" She paused for a second trying to recall the moment he'd told her.

"He was… Liquid's brother. His twin brother." She murmured to herself and remembered a mission she and Liquid had been on together in the Middle East, where the issue had popped up in a conversation before Liquid had been recruited into FOX-HOUND. All Ebony could recall was that Liquid had kept his words short and sharp about Snake before moving onto something else. He was funny like that sometimes.

Ebony shivered at the cold, watching for even a single soldier to tell her she was in the right place.

She had never been in such a cold place, had never seen this stuff called snow before. She was more accustomed to the hot and dry climate of the Middle East where she'd been born and raised, fighting along with her mercenary father and where she met Liquid Snake right in the middle of a gun fight.

The enemy had pinned down Ebony, her father, and a few of their other fighters. Suddenly this man had just appeared out of nowhere, picked up the AK rifle from one of Ebony's dead companions, and started to fight back. The blonde-haired man had not asked whom it was they were fighting, why they were fighting and never spoke a word until most of the shooters had been killed. Ebony's father never made it to thank Liquid. The last surviving enemy sniper had killed him. Ebony never asked Liquid to do it, but he spent days hounding down the sniper in her place. Ebony had been hurt too much to do the deed herself and waited for him to return and help her back to base.

"And he wasn't even in a healthy state to fight." Ebony sighed to herself. The image of the skinny, British SAS soldier that had been Liquid on that day, was in her mind. It had baffled her at the time why he did not return home and stayed with her to work as a mercenary. Back then, Ebony had thought Liquid was bound to have a family, but as he had explained, he had no family he wanted to be with and was very much out on his own in the world.

Ebony pulled her coat tighter around herself and entered one of the buildings, creeping down shady corridors. Her hand fell down to her guns side and unlatched the catch on the holster. Lights flickered on. Off. On. Off, like strobe lights.

She peeked into the mess hall, brightly lit revealing the shambles it was in. Food supplies had been knocked over and spilled from open cupboards, across tables and onto the floor. Dorms for resident soldiers had bunks lined up like troops on the yard for drill were further in the building, and deeper inside Ebony found individual rooms separate from the rest. Most of them were quite vacant and bare with nothing in the drawers or closets. The beds were all made.

However, the last one she went into was different. It had been used. Recently.

The sheets were crinkled and pulled back on the bed. In the middle of the bed was a heap of small memoirs. She sat down to have a nose about in them, finding bullet cases of all kinds, some were complete bullets shiny as new. Tattered and dog-eared photographs of desert landscapes that Ebony recognised seeing herself. A photo of a glorious sunset over the mountains caught her eye and she slipped it into her pocket. It looked as though the rock has been set afire and the sun had melted into them.

"Let's see what's in here…" Ebony thought seeing that the top drawer of the little cabinet next to the bed was open a crack. She dipped her hand in and found a book, bound with a leather cover like the old tomes you would find gathering dust in a library. She opened it slowly, scanning her eyes over the neat and rather elegant handwriting and smiled to herself.

"He still keeps a log of his missions." She laughed. Ebony had seen Liquid write entries in his mission log, and had once or twice read what he wrote out to her. In the books, Liquid kept detailed accounts of each job they went on, his thoughts and impressions of what went on each day, whatever he felt like writing down. Finding this book gave Ebony a little more hope, it looked as though her journey half way across the world wouldn't be a wasted one.

"I wonder… what will he be like now?" Ebony mused as she put the book in a pocket. She suddenly felt nervous about seeing him again; they had been in each other's company for six years and knew each other very well. However, since Liquid had not remained in contact with Ebony for her protection, neither of them had been able to see or hear what went on in their lives. Nonetheless, Ebony looked forward to seeing how he was now and catching up with him.

Ebony left the sleeping quarters and continued through the building until she reached the other side, back into Alaska's freeze. There was nothing but white. Just white snow with lights glowing on a heliport and further away beyond it, floodlights lit up a building wall. She could see nothing but dark night on either side and decided it was not worth the risk of wandering around with nothing to guide her.

Ebony took a step out into the snow and found herself wading in the soft flakes half way up her calves. It sucked her feet back every time she took a step making Ebony put in twice the effort.

She paused for breath, hot with her trip through the snowdrifts and looked to see where she was. The floodlights were much closer with not much further to go before she was finally there. The thought of eventually seeing Liquid again helped her to pick up her pace and she hurried along.

"Phew! I hope I don't have to stay here much longer. I hate this place. I don't see what is so fun about snow. Honestly." Ebony breathed leaning against the building she'd now reached. She watched as her breath turned into a misty white cloud of vapor, the wind sweeping it away and slowly walked round, following the walls closely. Moments later and she found an entrance. There was a crack as the ice on the hinges split and let her inside to another door down a short flight of stairs. Ebony struggled to heave it open and was rewarded by a rush of hot air. She closed it behind her and turned to take in her surroundings.

Criss-crossing walkways wrapped around the interior and reached over to either side, lifts and pulleys, platforms jutted out of the walls over the source of the heat, a red pit of molten metal part of a blast furnace. Whatever it was called, Ebony didn't care; it was nice and warm here.

"Nothing on this level so I guess the only way is down." She whispered taking off her gloves and stuffed them in a pocket. Ebony creeped along noiselessly. She couldn't explain why, but she didn't like the place. An atmosphere, a vibe, whatever it was there was a feeling of unrest and disturbance, which had alerted her instincts.

Down on the third level Ebony spotted some thing down on the ground floor. It wasn't very clear what it was; vaguely human in shape but she still wasn't sure. Leaning over the railings was also not going to help her decide; Ebony was already over them a dangerous amount and loosing her balance would cause her fall to join whatever that thing was. She moved back away from the railings and took her gun in both hands, her soft footsteps echoing in the still sound.

Reaching the ground level Ebony watched the shape and discerned it was a person. She pointed her gun at it even though it had not moved.

"I have to get closer." She sighed after squinting. The glow from the molten metal threw out odd and peculiar shadows and made it difficult to make out the person lying there. Ebony slinked forwards to stand right next to it. Many of the lights didn't work and it was still difficult to see. Ebony could tell by the sound of her boots that there was blood underfoot around the body, still wet and glossy red. She casually tapped the corpse and rolled it over with one foot.

"WHAT THE…?" She sprang back, dropped her gun, and tripped over her own feet to land with a thud on her back. She sat up slowly and grabbed her gun, creeping back to have another look. She felt herself shake all over.

"I really hate this…" Ebony muttered in Arabic as she bent down to brush the hair out of their face. She opened her eyes, looked into theirs, and screamed out, throwing her hands up over her face.

It didn't matter how many lives she'd taken in her lifetime of fighting, nothing had prepared Ebony to find her one and only trusted friend dead, all on her own in a foreign country. She couldn't remain standing and collapsed down onto her knees at Liquid's side, covering up her eyes with her hands and spouted out a rush of random Arabic. Slowly, Ebony stopped and uncovered her eyes.

"What…what happened to you?" Her voice trembled as she slipped back into English. She reached over to close his eyes. It explained why there was nobody left on the island, without a leader what would they do.

Ebony softly spoke to him. It didn't matter to her that he would never hear her words again. People talk to their loved ones resting in graves deep in the ground, or when they are unconscious in hospital, so why would it be wrong for her to speak to Liquid?

A minute later, she fell quiet and carefully pushed more of Liquid's blonde hair out of his face. He hadn't changed much from the last time she had seen him. There was a tattoo on his left arm that Ebony didn't remember him having when they last met. It was a snake coiled around a blade.

"Why couldn't I have been here sooner?" Ebony cried out. "I might have stopped you from dying…"

She shook her head at him. He was all beaten up, shot twice in his back and once in his head, left to die where he had fallen. Ebony struggled to keep cool, saving up her anger until she found out who it was that had murdered Liquid.

Something glittered around Liquid's neck and Ebony leaned closer to have a look. Gold dog tags on a gold chain…she never saw him without them.

"Sorry but I think you'll understand…" She muttered quietly as she undid the catch and slipped one of the tags off the chain. She reached up to take off the necklace she had on, a gift from her father when she was just a girl, and put the tag on her chain. She popped it back down her shirt close to herself and replaced the remaining tag back on its chain around Liquid's neck.

Ebony wanted to give him a decent final goodbye right now but it was impossible to do it in Alaska. The cold weather and the frozen perma frost would make it difficult to dig a grave. She did not wish to throw his body in the furnace to burn unceremoniously. Her only choice was to take him with her when she returned to base and bury him there.

She'd had enough of mourning in silence and got back on her feet. Her mind had been made up.

"He tracked down and killed the sniper who reduced my family to zero even though he had no idea of who I was and what I was fighting for. The least I can do is to repay him." Ebony thought to herself. "I would have preferred to do something for him when he was alive but I will find his killer. I will find out everything from them and I _will_ make them pay."

She turned away and began to walk back to the stairs that led her down to the platform. Her foot kicked something across the concrete and into a wall with a soft clang. Ebony bent down to pick it up.

"A combat knife?" She frowned. The weight felt so familiar in her hand and her heart leapt at the realisation.

"This is the one I gave you!" She called out turning back to Liquid with a smile. "You kept it!" She ran back to retrieve the case attached to his belt and replaced the blade back inside, clipping it to her own belt. She bowed her head a little before heading back upstairs to leave the building. Her plan was to return to his dorm, somewhere at least more familiar and comfortable to begin her search. The journal she had would also be a door to revealing what had brought Liquid to his end.

However, Ebony found it strange that she didn't feel much except this hollow nothingness inside her. She had no real reason to feel angry, she had nobody to blame yet and nobody to start hunting for. The only thing she could do is store it away until she found them.

Ebony soon arrived back in barracks. Retracing her path through the building back to Liquid's own room, Ebony removed her coat and gloves and hung them on the back of a chair. She sat down on the bed and sighed.

"Let's see what a dead voice has to say then." She said aloud and took out the logbook from her pocket to start reading.

An hour or two had passed and Ebony was lying down, her face pressed into the pillow. It smelled faintly of him but was quickly becoming soggy with her cries. She picked up the book and threw it without looking. It bounced off a nearby wall with a flutter of paper and landed opened out on the floor. At least now, she knew who it was that had killed him, everything that had happened since Liquid had set foot on the island.

At first Ebony believed that Liquid was lying about his origin, but could think of no reasons why he would lie and write about it in his own private logbook. She had known that Snake was his brother and now it was starting to come together, she could begin to understand what had happened to him. Wiping her eyes Ebony sat up and retrieved the book.

"I suppose that was why you didn't want to speak about him. You didn't want me to think that you were weak or know about your real past…" She murmured into the air. Ebony could only imagine Liquid's fury. His situation had been a unique event and one that would never be allowed to be repeated or experienced by anybody else. She remembered the thing that had kept them together all the years they spent working with each other. Both of them had dreamed of founding a country, fighting, and living on as mercenaries. And here he'd found the perfect opportunity to do it. The only thing that had stopped him from visualising his dream was his twin brother.

Ebony smiled. There was one thing she had to be pleased about in his mission log. Liquid had given clear details about what he did after waking up on the island and went after Snake again. The map he used was still lying spread out on the floor on one side of the bed, a red line of ink traced along the path he took, he described what the house looked like, what happened, and it was all down in black and white in his journal. The only thing that Ebony was missing was something to show her what Snake looked like. Liquid had said that they looked alike, but Ebony had to see for herself with her own eyes, the legend everybody talked about.

"I wonder if the cameras are still working." She muttered aloud and swung her legs over the bed so she was sitting down on the edge. "Maybe Snake will be on the recordings somewhere." She stood up and held the book in front of her.

"But this I'll keep. It is all I have to remind me of him. I can't forget Liquid. Never." She sighed. Ebony knew herself that it was hard to keep the memories. Memories often fade quicker when other things occupy one's mind. Ebony had felt it herself what it was like; she began to forget about her father a few years after Liquid joined her.

"Oh!" She exclaimed in surprise at something lying on the floor and bent down to pick it up. It was an instant photograph but she was distracted from it by something else.

"Who's there?" She called out loudly and drew her handgun stepping quickly to stand next to the door.

The noise came from down the corridor. A quiet clink, chink, clink, chink ringing with each footstep, steady and unhurried. Ebony continued to listen and sprung out as the door opened.

"DON'T MOVE!" She shouted and pointed her gun at the intruder.

"Who are you?" The intruder asked as he turned to face her and lowered his gun. A FOX-HOUND badge on the white-haired man's sleeve of his long coat caught Ebony's eye. The man sighed and holstered the antiquated weapon, a revolver that would not look out of place in a Western movie although when Ebony had a good look at him she agreed that the owner could also be the star.

"Are you FOX-HOUND?" She asked him again.

"I was at least while they were still around." He answered coldly.

"Which one then? Revolver Ocelot." Ebony said pointing to the revolver he had holstered at his belt.

"That's right, but what do you know about FOX-HOUNDs activities on Shadow Moses?" He asked pointedly. Ebony took out the journal from her pocket and held it up to Ocelot.

"The man who wrote this was on this island and in command of the unit. You would know him as Liquid Snake. I came looking for him." She explained slowly.

"For what purpose?" Ocelot scoffed.

"I'm an old friend of his and that's all you need to know." Ebony replied simply and put the book back in her pocket.

"Oh well." He laughed. "I'm afraid you've wasted your time coming here. Liquid's dead."

"I know that already!" Ebony shouted back. "I found his body."

"FoxDie got him then?" Ocelot asked hopefully.

"No, he was shot. He survived FoxDie."

"Shot? By who?" Ocelot asked and looked as if a wasp had stung him.

"Look…" Ebony began to flick through the pages of the logbook. "I read it here…"

She lifted the book up and let Ocelot read it. A smile slowly crept onto his face, spread out into a grin and he started to laugh.

"Still chasing after his revenge? Ah, the stupid fool didn't learn, did he?"

"Don't talk about him like that!" Ebony threatened and drew her gun. She quickly found herself staring down the barrel of Ocelot's revolver.

"Don't be so quick to judge!" He hissed.

"Or you." Ebony shot back. "He wasn't always so foolish." She defended. "Vengeful of course but he always had his reasons."

Ebony put her gun back in her holster and remembered the photo she was still holding onto. She lifted it up and looked. Then smiled.

"What's so funny woman?" Ocelot asked.

"That's Ebony to you. I have a name so please use it." She turned the photo around for Ocelot to see.

"Him!" He gasped. "That's Solid Snake."

"My target." Ebony grinned and took another look at it before slipping it in between the pages of Liquid's journal.

"But that is none of your business… Thank you Ocelot. Maybe I will see you again some day." Ebony spun on her heel and began to walk away down the corridor. The ching of Ocelot's spurs chased after her.

"Just wait a minute!" Ocelot called firmly. "If what Snake has done in the past, killing Big Boss and destroying Metal Gear isn't enough, then Liquid's death should be."

Ebony stopped and turned around. She looked at Ocelot with a confused frown.

"Liquid had the strongest genes." Ocelot finished.

"But…that isn't what he said!" Ebony gasped.

"He had been told otherwise and made to believe that he was weak." He stated coolly.

"And why should I believe you?" Ebony frowned and folded her arms across her chest. "What are my reasons for trusting you at all?"

Ocelot pulled out a disc and held it up.

"If it's Snake you're after, this disc contains all you need to give him enough headaches." He smiled thinly.

"What's on it?" Ebony reached out a hand to grab the disc but Ocelot drew it back out of her grasp.

"Ahah! This, my dear has all the data for building Metal Gear." He smiled again. Ebony looked at him sideways. She had an idea but had her suspicions about Ocelot from Liquid's warnings in his journal.

"What are you saying?" She asked softly.

"You can chase after Snake through these frozen wastes all you want and may never find him. But with this, you can save all your troubles and bring him to you instead right into a trap." He said raising the disc up again.

"I still want to find him myself though." She turned back to face him. "What do you want for that data?"

"Oh, well let's see…" Ocelot looked round as he thought of his price. "Several million dollars at least…maybe more…"

"But… what if Metal Gear was to return and Snake was not there for them to call back and destroy it?" Ebony began slowly, an idea starting to form in her mind. She knew she had nothing like the amounts that Ocelot was going to charge for a copy of the data and there was always the risk that he would alter it or render it absolutely useless.

"How about you build you own Metal Gear?" Ebony asked him.

"Build my own one?" Ocelot laughed. "And where will I find somewhere to do that?"

"What I don't have in money I can make up for resources. I have a base a little smaller than this island in the desert, an army of guerrilla and mercenary soldiers, some money and weapons…" Ocelot shook his head and began to walk away.

"Wait!" Ebony called. Ocelot stopped. Ebony sighed. She knew deep inside that making such an offer to Ocelot was foolish and dangerous but she wanted to keep the promise she had made to Liquid's soul for retribution. She had no idea of what Ocelot was planning but she could see no way out.

"I…I will give you control of my base and all my men for whatever you need." Ebony eventually offered.

"You will let me use your base to sell the data for Metal Gear to the highest bidders? And construct my own?" Ocelot looked at her and an expression of amazement passed over his face before disappearing just as quickly. "But you can deal with Snake. I'll let you have that."

He offered Ebony his left hand, she widened her eyes at the bandaged stump that had been his right hand, and smiled wryly at her. Ebony cringed inside as she shook his hand to seal the trade.

"Far more generous than what my comrades would offer I admit and it releases me from loyalty to Russia." Ocelot smiled again.

"I'm giving control of my base and my troops freely. M_y_ money and my weapons…" Ebony told herself. She was used to selling herself out for those who needed her combat skills... it was something she had done all her life. Ebony had hoped to take revenge for Liquid by herself without putting her name to an agreement.

"Why do I feel like I've failed already?"

"So?" Ocelot asked.

"One thing, I will find Snake, we won't have to wait for him to come to us. I still want to see what would happen if he suddenly disappeared." Ebony announced.

"Even if it means spending more time here, it's better spent in Alaska than in the company of this man." Ebony closed her eyes. "Liquid tell me I'm doing the right thing!"

Chapter 2 coming soon…


	2. Desert Roses Have Thorns Chapter 2

Desert Roses Have Thorns.

Chapter 2.

_Eight months later- Somewhere in __Alaska__USA_

"Hmmm…what time is it?" Meryl murmured sleepily, opening her eyes and closed them again against the dull morning light. Summer had been and gone in Alaska and as winter came the days became shorter and much, much colder. She pulled the duvet tighter around herself before waking up again.

"Oh no!" she thought and looked over a sleeping Dave at the alarm clock perched alongside the little table lamp and his packet of cigarettes. Her eyes widened when the time flashed up on the red display. 5:59. She quickly sat up and leaned over to switch it off, usually it went off on its daily beeping frenzy at six. Meryl just managed to turn the beeping thing off before it woke up Dave.

"Sssh!" Meryl hissed at the clock before flopping back onto her side, facing him, still sleeping, softly breathing. It was reassuring for Meryl to see him looking so calm. If there was something not quite right he was usually the first one to know and although he often would never admit that something was bothering him it eventually found some way out. It wasn't just that. Meryl found it comforting to know that whenever she was woken by anything from the odd noises that seem to come out of ordinary, everyday objects after dark to the bad dreams she still got every once in a while about Shadow Moses, Dave was there. Of course, he was also useful when it was really cold and was great to snuggle up to and never noticed when Meryl took his half of the duvet for herself!

Meryl jumped when David suddenly started to move about.

"Oh no… don't wake up. Don't' wake up yet!" She thought to herself and moved out of his way.

"…mmm…" He mumbled a smile spread over his face. "…Meryl…" Dave cooed drowsily and snored quietly. Meryl giggled to herself, a hand over her mouth to stifle them and decided that while she could never describe David as 'cute' this was a definite 'aww' moment.

Rewind back eight months however and it would have been a different scenario. After returning from Shadow Moses, they stayed at Twin Lakes for a week to allow Snake to get better before they started to move stuff out. It was made all the more difficult with the trouble Dave had. Every night was full of nightmares for him.

Meryl didn't have much of an idea of what he saw in them, but she guessed from what he said in his sleep it was about what had gone on Shadow Moses Island from the names he would shout out, always sounding frightened or angry. Some evenings Dave rolled and rumbled about restlessly, forcing Meryl to sleep on the sofa. She would creep back to bed before he woke up so he wouldn't know. Some mornings she woke up to find him sitting awake keeping a watch over her, an empty packet of cigarettes often not too far away and a thick haze of smoke in the air. It came to a head when Snake decided to take a walk in the forest at two in the morning and reappeared later on that day, Meryl absolutely frantic thinking that he'd left her. After Twin Lakes was left behind, things slowly got better and with a couple of months Dave was starting to behave more like a normal person. Thing is they both knew there wouldn't be any sort of regular normality, there was no way of reversing some of the damage done, just minimising it.

Meryl smiled at Dave again although he wouldn't see it, rolled over onto her other side, and pulled open a drawer in the cabinet next to her. She rummaged around for a few seconds for a small box. She eventually found it and opened it a little to see the silver curb chain inside. Facing Snake again, she carefully slipped it around his neck, closing the clasp securely with a soft laugh. She wondered what he would say, or if he would notice at all.

She was still tired after staying up late the night before to catch a movie with him on television and snuggled down again to sleep a while.

Meryl didn't know how long she had dozed but awoke some time later. She felt a hand resting against her shoulder. She peeked up to see Dave there in front her awake on his side leaning on his other arm. His bluey-gray eyes creased up as he smiled at her.

"You turned the alarm off didn't you?" He laughed a little.

"Ummm…yeah. Look what's wrong with a long lie once in while?" Meryl asserted. "And…" She stopped and watched him peer down at his chest.

"Oh…" Dave exclaimed. "Meryl what's this for?" He lifted the chain up a little.

"You've forgotten?" Meryl laughed. "It's yours. A present from me." She said moving closer towards him and slipped her arms round his waist under the covers.

"My birthday…" Snake muttered to himself, and twisted round to look as date flashed up on the clock.

"It is…" he half-laughed, half-groaned turning back to her.

"Happy birthday, Dave." Meryl whispered in his ear and kissed his cheek.

It wasn't just his birthday but it was also eight months that he and Meryl had been together. It wasn't an important number, but for Snake it held some significance. He'd had no doubts about having Meryl live with him and looking back he was glad that he'd chosen to let her stay. He had once imagined that if he did meet somebody, it would have all ended within a few weeks. It was quite a feat for him after living six years on his own, with nobody to care for but himself and fifty huskies. Even then, in the wake of Zanzibar there had been times where he didn't care about what happened to him.

"So…" Meryl started again. "…how old _are _you? You never told me on Shadow Moses and you still haven't told me.

"Yeah…I think I said 'Old enough to know what death looks like' or something grim like that." Snake recalled.

"Well… go on. Tell me!" Meryl persuaded and hugged him a little more.

"Ugh." He groaned. "Oh okay… thirty-one." Dave replied grudgingly and waited to see her reaction. He was relieved to see that she didn't respond in any unusual way. She didn't stare at him with round eyes and an open mouth, she didn't scream or run away, and Dave allowed himself an inward sigh.

Meryl had turned nineteen about three months ago, Dave remembered sketchily. They celebrated with him taking Meryl out for dinner, he'd bought some gifts for her, and it was the first time he saw her in a dress.

"I wasn't sure what to get you." Meryl piped up and distracted Snake out of his daydream about her birthday. "It's tricky trying to think of ideas for what to get for anybody, but you…you're tough Dave. I thought I should give you something you could have with you all the time. Y'know, to remind you of me."

Snake could sense that Meryl was still a little afraid that something would happen to come between them, and although he recognised it, he ignored it for the time being. It would be silly to think about it on a day like this.

Meryl played with the chain hanging around his neck.

"Thank you. I'm not really a fan of jewellery but I like this a lot." Dave said gently to her.

"Liquid wore a chain didn't he?" Snake asked himself in his head. "Gold dog tags on a gold chain…It would have been his birthday too if he were alive to see it but…" He looked down at Meryl still occupying herself with the chain "…Meryl and I would probably be dead."

"David!" Meryl waved her hand in front of his face.

"Thank you." Snake said quickly and put his arms around her once more.

"It looks good on you." Meryl whispered to him.

"I'll always wear it." Dave told her. Meryl seemed to brighten a bit more.

"Really?"

"Of course." He answered, leaning in closer to give her a gentle kiss.

Meryl drew back a little from him a couple of minutes later.

"I've got to get ready. I've still got things to do today in town and I'm so hungry!" getting up and pulled on a dressing gown to make her way downstairs while Dave busied himself with finding fresh underwear and jeans.

He hopped next door to the bathroom still pulling on his jeans, taking a moment to have a look at his reflection in the mirror, admiring Meryl's gift, and then started to search around for his razor. He was halfway through shaving when the smell of coffee and toast invited him to hurry up. He managed to finish without cutting himself, and popped next door grabbing the first shirt that came to hand, buttoning it up while he went downstairs to meet Meryl.

She was sitting at the table, munching on a slice of toast and jam. More stood up in the little toast rack, a jar of jam and butter sat beside it along with a pot of coffee and milk. While Dave would have had something a little more substantial normally, he knew that the huskies would begin to get restless for their morning feed. There would be time later to get more food.

"So, what are you going into town for?" Dave asked as he sat down taking some toast for himself and slid the keys to his pick-up to Meryl across the table.

"None of your business!" She grinned. "I've still got one or two things to pick up for you and I'm arranging something too. In other words…you can't come."

"You don't have to go to so much trouble…" Dave said to her quietly as he spooned on a blob of the jam and spread it around a knife. "Honestly, it's brilliant that you even bothered."

Meryl looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"You mean nobody cared when you were little?" She asked.

Dave shook his head. Nobody had cared while he was passed around from one foster family to another and when he first signed himself into the forces; it was something you told no one about to save you having to deal with the consequences of the stupid pranks that were pulled from the other soldiers. Why did he have to worry about times that were now so long ago in the past? Here he was with a life of his own and sharing it with somebody he cared about, somebody who loved him back.

"Oh come on Dave, you _deserve _it. You put in all that thought for my birthday, what's to stop me from doing the same for you?" Meryl looked up from sweeping breadcrumbs into a small heap, another broad smile on her face.

"Or do you have other plans tonight?"

Snake laughed quietly.

"Maybe, maybe…" he smiled as Meryl tapped his shin with her bare foot.

Meryl got out of her chair and pushed it back in, piled up her dishes on the table and began to head back upstairs to wash and change.

"I'm still taking you out. I don't care what you say!" She called from the top of the stairs.

"Okay…" Dave put his hands in the air and carried on polishing off what was left of breakfast.

He had to confess life was a lot better after moving away from Twin Lakes. It had seen too many sad days and it had become too dangerous to stay there. Snake didn't feel like hiding anymore, but he was still cautious about being in public for fear of somebody recognising him. Their home was closer to Anchorage, a little bit out of anybody's' way, in the peace and quiet, comfortably tucked away out of sight.

Dave climbed the stairs to retrieve his boots, first stopping in by the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Meryl was just within his sight as he stood in front of the wall cabinet mirror, getting dressed pulling on a jumper on top of a shirt.

"Isn't that a little big for her?" Dave wondered to himself and peeked into the bedroom through the adjoining door.

"Oh, hey!" He called through a mouthful of minty foam. "That's my…" He picked up a glass of water and rinsed his mouth out.

"Your jumper?" Meryl smiled at him with a cheeky glint in her eyes, poking her tongue out at him, provoking Snake to start chasing after her.

"Look it's great for when it's cold like today…" Meryl giggled as she jumped out Dave's way.

"You mean you've stolen it before?" Dave accused light-heartedly.

"NO! I only borrowed it…" Meryl laughed. "…and you're not needing it today right? I'm doing lots of walking up and down streets just for you and you'll be…"

"I was going to get it when I was finished…" David growled chasing after her. "I'm feeding the huskies and I don't know what else I'll be doing today either."

"You're still not getting it!" Meryl squealed pulling the jumper on tighter and skipped out of reach as Dave made another jump after her.

"Missed…" She taunted. Snake made another leap and caught hold of her, wrapping his arms around her.

"Gotcha!" He laughed, struggling to keep her still.

"NOO! Snake, let go!" Meryl cried wriggling around.

"You can keep it, _just _for today." He finally sighed. Meryl smiled, happy with her victory and gave him a hug.

"I've got to go." Meryl said stepping back still with her hands around his waist.

Snake opened his mouth to say something to her but closed it before reconsidering. What he had to say could wait, now was not the right time.

"I'll see you later, Dave!" Meryl smiled at him, pulling on her coat as she ran down the stairs. Moments later the door slammed after her.

Dave sat down to lace up his boots before peeping out the window as Meryl drove away out of sight.

The huskies began to howl from inside their shelter. Dave looked at his watch; he was late for their food and they were telling him to get a move on and let them out. He wandered down the stairs paying a visit to the gun closet to pick up his USP and a couple of spare magazines. It paid to keep a gun handy. There were grizzly bears in the area and although David didn't think that any would decide to investigate, he didn't want to chance it.

The gun went into a holster that sat on his left hip so it could be hidden under his coat and be drawn without obstruction.

"I'll be there in a minute!" Dave thought to himself as the howls continued and he locked the closet, slipping the keys in his pocket, heading into the kitchen and to the back porch collecting his coat, zipping it right up. He took a step back and opened the store to heave out the bag of dog food, slinging it over one shoulder, stepped outside to walk towards the enclosure for the dogs.

The bowls for their food were still sitting out, sprinkled in a little frost. Dave set the bag down with a sigh once he had entered the enclosure and filled up each bowl with cupfuls of food. The barking got louder and more impatient, filling the air. The sound deafened Snake when he walked to the door and unlatched it. A flood of fur poured out heading right for the food, all fifty of them except for two. Bob and Aero sat in front of David waiting for him.

"What?" He smiled. "Look if I were you I'd get over there before those greedy guys leave you with nothing."

Aero lifted up one paw with a small whine.

"Oh I get it." Dave said out loud and lit up a cigarette. "You're wondering where she is, huh? Meryl's just gone out for a little while."

Bob cocked his head and his ears pricked at the sound of Meryl's name, making the little husky look even more wolf-like. He gave Snake a canine grin and trotted off with Aero in tow.

It would have been a good day to take a small team out for a run, it was a half-decent day and not too cold, but Dave wanted to be around when Meryl came back.

He turned to shut one of the doors on the dog shelter, leaving one open just in case they wanted to shelter and headed back to where he had left the bag of food by the fence. He pushed open the gate to leave the pen and fastened the padlock back in place. While he busied himself with tying the bag shut, Dave heard footsteps coming up behind him.

"I bet it's Meryl and she forgot something." He smiled, pausing to take a drag on his cigarette.

"Right…" He began aloud. "…what did you forget this time?" and turned around.

He took one look at the person, his hand diving under his coat to draw his handgun.

"You're not Meryl…who the Hell are you!" He exclaimed, the woman started to lift up the rifle she was carrying. Snake snatched her wrist and flipped her over onto the ground on her back.

"Whoever this visitor is she isn't friendly." Dave muttered to himself as he sprinted off away, looking back over his shoulder.

The woman was up on her feet and chasing after him. She quickly caught up with him, only a few steps behind. He caught a glimpse of her face, her long black hair flicked in front of her face partially hiding it, but it was nobody that he had ever met before.

To Dave's surprise she sprang towards him, her arms outstretched. Dave just managed to bring his right arm up and fired one shot, grazing the woman's arm. She shouted out furiously but it was nothing that Snake understood. The bullet failed to deter her and she wrapped her arms around his legs tightly, bringing him down into the snow with a soft crunch.

"Huh? Damn!" Dave hissed to himself.

His gun had been thrown a few feet out of his reach and he struggled to crawl forwards, the woman still had a tight grip around his legs. He crept forward a little dragging her along with him only to be hauled back again. He felt her hand grasp hold of the waistband on his jeans and reached back to prise her hands off again.

"Let GO!" Snake shouted at her as he tried to fight her off. He shook his legs and tried to free just one so that he would be able to kick her arms. However, her grip would not surrender and Dave found his legs trapped underneath as she sat down on them, and punched him in the back. There was a metallic rattling as the woman picked up her rifle. Dave twisted around to see her, and began to struggle even more.

"Damn it!" He muttered as he raised his arms over his head. The woman lifted the weapon up, bringing it down onto his skull with a loud smack.

Dave was stunned at first, but his movements slowed down and eventually stopped altogether. He still battled to keep conscious. It was no use; his head tipped forwards and lay face down in the snow with a grunt.

Ebony still sat pinning Snake's legs down making absolutely certain that he was out cold.

"I hope I didn't over do it." She whispered to herself. She'd hit him harder than she really wanted to but desperation had necessitated it.

Ebony got up and crouched down next to him, pulling back the collar of his coat and pressed two fingers against his neck, feeling for a pulse. It was there. Slow but strong and steady. She tipped his head to one side and listened closely. He was still breathing, just faintly, a strong smell of tobacco on his breath.

"Well that was a little easier than expected." She said out loud and stood up. "Out of practise Snake?"

She smiled at him, moving her shot arm a little. It was fine, only a little graze, and nothing to worry about. Ebony rolled Snake over onto his back and hooked her arms under his, dragging him slowly along. She had to pause a couple of times to take a breather, dropping him down again each time and finally made it into the trees and back where she had left her snowmobile.

Ebony dumped Snake down on the forest floor. She touched the gold tag looped on her chain with a few silent words and began rearranging the load she had strapped on the rear rack. Then she fought with Snake's inanimate body a while, heaving him up to sit on the saddle behind her so that he wouldn't fall off. She turned the key, revving the engine up. It was just a short trip to the rendezvous point and she would be out of here, back on the way home and out of the chill.

Step one was complete.

»»»»»»

The table reservations had been made, the last couple of gifts picked up, and some extra bits and pieces bought. There was really nothing to it at all; the only problem for Meryl would be hiding all the stuff from Dave. He had a knack of finding stuff, likely a consequence of him having to acquire items in missions from wherever he could find them. Meryl was wondering how on Earth she was going to manage come Christmas time. She smiled at the thought of having to bury her gifts outside in the ground.

She parked the pick up back inside the garage and peeked in a couple of windows just to make sure he wasn't lying in wait for her at the door.

She had made sure the place she'd reserved a table at was okay. The last time they went out on her birthday for dinner, Dave had looked a little uncomfortable the whole evening and anytime Meryl had quizzed him about the problem, he just muttered something about it being a little more crowded than he expected. That had been the only spoiler. This time however, Meryl made sure it would go all right. A table for two in a nice quiet, cosy more private part of the restaurant. Meryl giggled to herself remembering the glares that Dave had given some of the more nosy diners taking a little too much interest in them. At least there'd be no repeat of that.

Meryl pushed open the door with her back, placed the bags down to one side, and let the door close quietly.

"Odd…" She thought to herself hanging up her coat with the others. "…I would have expected him to be having lunch or watching T.V."

Feeding the huskies did not take all that long even when they were on their worst behaviour. Meryl had a look in the gun closet thinking he'd be cleaning some of his guns, then upstairs and checked all the rooms there.

"Maybe he went out on the sled for a run?" Meryl paused where she was at the top of the stairs and walked back to the bedroom window to look outside.

From there she could get a view of where Dave usually headed off on his training runs. No tracks at all. Moreover, it hadn't snowed yet so if there had been any they would have been visible.

"I'll just call him in case. Maybe he went a different way." Meryl thought and went back into the living room and sat in the chair next to the telephone. Both of them a had a cell phone of their own just in case they got stuck in bad weather or were out and about. Meryl looked up the number and dialled it in, waiting.

"Come on…answer it." Meryl rolled her eyes. Dave usually answered the phone quite quickly and although it sometimes took a little while for him to answer, he'd never left it so long before. Meryl sighed and put the phone down with a clash.

"If this is his idea of a joke…" She fumed. "David, come on this isn't funny anymore!" Meryl called out loud. She waited listening for any sound.

"Okay… maybe he went for a walk…" Meryl began striding towards the backdoor, out to where the huskies' pen was. She searched round for footprints. Meryl found them next to where the bag of dog food had been abandoned and tipped over. He always took it in when they were finished, something else that wasn't right. Meryl followed them around a little.

"Hey…" Her eye was caught by another set of prints, smaller than Snake's and they led all the way up behind his. There was a mess in the snow where it had been kicked up, a few handprints had pressed into the snow. From there the footprints were spaced further apart… as if Snake and the other person had been running.

Meryl ran as she followed them further away and found they ended in more unclear impressions in the snow. Further back Meryl spotted a tiny brassy object, a single bullet case from Dave's USP. It was frozen and there was no way of telling how long ago it had been fired. There was a squashed up cigarette pressed into the snow, which was the brand that Dave smoked. Then there were rough tracks trailing away into the woods. Meryl didn't need to follow them; she knew what had happened.

Meryl stood still holding the bullet case in her hand staring into nowhere. Her mind was a blank and she stumbled back inside, her brain on autopilot and led her back to the living room into the sofa.

She didn't do anything for a moment, it was impossible to imagine that he'd been snatched away. Meryl buried her head into her folded arms. She couldn't think of anybody who would want to capture Dave either. They were dead according to the government, her father had made sure of it, and so it couldn't have been them.

"He could be anywhere in the world…thousands of miles away… Dave where are you?" She mumbled into her arms, the sleeves on his jumper got wet with tears.

She sat curled up in a little ball crying for a few more minutes, the shock slowly changing itself into something else. A little shadow of anger danced around inside of her replacing the sadness. Meryl sat up and wiped her eyes.

"I can't sit here and do nothing!" She said firmly to herself. She looked at the telephone. Her Dad had done so much to help them out; surely, he would want to help her now?

"Thing is if I call he'll have to tell the truth that we're alive…but I can't think of anybody else."

Meryl sat herself down next to the phone, flicked through the pages of her address book for her father's number, grabbed the receiver, and dialled.

It began to ring. Meryl almost put it down, but forced herself to keep it off the hook.

"Hello?" The voice said to her at the other end of the line. "Campbell residence, who's speaking?"

"Hi…Dad." Meryl smiled a little.

"Meryl! Haha, Meryl! This is unexpected…" Her Dad laughed. "How are you?" He asked. Of course how could he possibly know what had happened.

"I…" She stuttered a little. "Not too…good…" She murmured nervously. There was silence and she interpreted it as meaning that he was listening. Meryl swallowed the knot in her throat down hard.

"Dad…" It felt so strange to be calling the man she'd known as 'uncle' all her life, Dad.

"…Dave's gone… I mean he hasn't left…he just disappeared. Somebody had come after him today while I was in Anchorage…" She sucked in a lungful of air. "It's his birthday today and I was making reservations for dinner tonight… I don't know who… where he is…" Her voice trembled a little and Meryl managed to keep the tears back.

"Meryl…" Roy Campbell said softly to her.

"I have to find him…" Meryl's voice took on a much harder edge. "…I have to get him back!"

"Meryl, I know what you're asking me for." Roy answered. "I will contact the military. See what they can do. I can't promise you that they will do anything at all, you are both officially dead remember and I'll have a bit of explaining to do myself…" He paused for a second. "Hal Emmerich was on his way to Anchorage today wasn't he?"

"Hmmm?" Meryl asked. "Yeah I invited him over for today for Dave's birthday. It's been a while since we all saw each other."

"Good. I recommend you two meet up then. I'll contact him and tell him to wait for you in the airport. Any developments in the situation will be relayed to him, but from there on I don't know if I can do much more. I'm sorry." The old Colonel replied calmly.

"Okay…" Meryl sighed. "I guess I've got nothing to loose."

"Don't worry, alright? Goodbye for now."

"Bye and thanks." Meryl sighed and hung up the phone.

Meryl sat still for a moment and dashed off upstairs, stuffing a holdall with some clothes, a few bits, and pieces. She'd probably find that if anything did happen, she'd have to leave so it only made sense to pack some things together.

Something lying on the dressing table caught Meryl's attention. Snake's bandanna was lying out, creased, and a little frayed at the ends. She picked it up, folded it carefully, and kept it in her pocket before charging downstairs. She stopped to pull on a coat, opened up the garage and threw her bag into the passenger seat of the pickup. The poor thing gurgled into life when Meryl started the engine, pulling away quickly and down the trail onto the nearest road.

»»»»»»

A groan came from out of the darkness. It sounded detached somehow from Snake when he heard it but the feeling in his throat said that it was his own voice. His mind was away somewhere else when he tried to lift one hand to feel the lump on the back of his head.

"How did I get that?" He wondered and discovered that his arms were tied behind his back. His legs were also bound together but Dave couldn't work out which way he was; one second the blood rushed up into his head like he was dangling upside down, the next he felt as if he was being swayed about like a ship at sea. It took a while for his senses to return fully and stopped playing around. They told him he was lying on his side with cold smooth concrete underneath.

David peered up; holding his head up at an angle and the darkness gave up the faint figures it was hiding from him. Just shadows with no faces, talking and sniggering to one another.

"Where…am I?" Snake asked dumbly. He couldn't think of anything else to ask. A voice out of the gloom spoke up but there were no words that he recognised, but it sounded very similar to what the woman had screamed at him.

"Is it…Arabic? Yeah…" He had heard it somewhere before when he was younger, years ago when he was in the Gulf war.

His concentration was snapped by a twinge of pain in the back of his head and the loud laughs that erupted from the other people around him. The man who'd just spoke, rushed up to Snake and kicked his foot into his gut. It didn't take long for the rest to swarm round and join in. Snake just curled himself up into a ball hoping that they would get bored and leave him be.

Over the commotion a door flung open and a new arrival strode in, waving their arms about firing out what Snake imagined were Arabic swear words and curses, storming round the room and chased the men out.

"Who the…a woman?" Snake murmured to himself tilting his head again at the shape in the door. It vanished as the door was shut and soon reappeared as lights flickered on.

Snake blinked a few times.

"Solid Snake?" The woman asked softly in English.

"Wha..?" Snake was cut short with a swift kick in his stomach as strong as any that the men had given to him. She kneeled down in front of him.

"Same woman who took me down…" Snake thought to himself. She reached out a hand and tilted his head so she could get a good look at him.

"I got it right… you are, aren't you?" She smiled at him.

It was definitely the same woman he encountered in Alaska; long shiny black hair, very dark brown eyes with dark skin… an Arab for sure like most of the men that had left a few seconds ago although he had noticed that there were one or two who came from other countries.

"I can't lie, you got it right." Snake spluttered. There was no point in lying, it would get him nowhere except for maybe more trouble. "Who are you? What…" The woman cut him off.

"Ebony, Snake. My name is Ebony and from now on it is going to be a very important name. Not just for you but every last person on this world will soon know it. Meryl too…" She flashed a smile at him again.

"What do you know about Meryl? Leave her out of this!" Snake shouted. He stopped realising his mistake.

"Quiet!" Ebony hissed and got up quickly to let him feel the steel toecap pound his stomach again. "There will be plenty of time for questions later, just hold your tongue and be patient. This is my base and my rules. I do what I please here and I'm not going to tell you anymore yet." She snapped at him again and stepped away softly, flicking the lights off to leave Snake in the black again.

"Ooooooooh… I have to exercise more!" Snake smiled to himself curling up again, trying to lighten the mood.

"Where am I anyway?" He asked himself. It was hot and dry even though he was wearing his jeans and boots. He shook his head.

"What am I? Arabic speaking guerrillas, a woman with Arabic looks… you're in the Middle East Dave!" He laughed quietly.

He lay still on the floor for a few minutes; his head still went round and round going nowhere in particular before he asked himself another question.

"I can understand how she knows who I am, practically every mercenary knows me as Solid Snake, but how the Hell did she find out about Meryl? Or where we live? We're supposed to be officially dead." Dave remembered Roy Campbell telling them how he'd got on with covering up for them, and even let them see the death certificates. It had been chilling to see his own name on a death certificate but it had at least helped put his mind at rest that things were safer. However, they could never be safe, not until he died.

This incident had proved that.

Snake shut his eyes for forty winks. He knew that Ebony wasn't going to make his life easy and he'd need all his strength to survive.

»»»»»»

A windowless and airless room deep inside the base's main barracks was where Ebony had chosen her private quarters to be. She felt vulnerable whenever she was asleep. She had the small fear lurking in her mind that she could be picked off by an assassin in her sleep, taking a shot at her through a window. It was difficult to explain why she felt like that but Ebony imagined that it was seeing her father die that had brought it on.

She was very restless and kept on changing where she would rest. Finally, she settled down, lying on her back on her bed.

"He looks so much like Liquid…" She breathed out loud. She had finally met Solid Snake herself and it had allowed her to understand Liquid a little more.

"I was so close to letting him go and apologising when I saw him." She laughed and quietened down.

The likeness was uncanny; Ebony had almost let herself believe that it was just Liquid who'd disguised himself by cutting his hair and dying it brown. But all it had taken to remind her that it wasn't Liquid was the image of his dead body she had burned into her memory. That was the only spark she needed to set the fury she'd been keeping locked inside of her, free.

She took out a photograph from a drawer. It was the only one she had left of Liquid and it had been taken not long before he left to join FOX-HOUND. Before things began to get on top of him and put their partnership under strain.

It had been the last time she remembered seeing him smile and while it had been something he didn't do very often, every time he did it always gave Ebony enough reason to smile too. Liquid was holding a sub-machine gun in his hands, a sniper rifle slung over his shoulder pulling the desert camouflage shirt he had on over to one side revealing a patch of tanned skin and the dog tags he always wore. The wind was blowing his hair all over the place and his face was streaked with dust and dirt. Ebony laughed to herself.

"And his excuse for not washing his face on missions was that it saved him from having to put on camo grease paint!" She wiped her eyes and put it down, picture side up.

It had been difficult for her to say goodbye. She could never understand why Liquid had given up the freedom he'd had when they worked together as mercenaries and traded it to work for the American government. Ebony had learned however that when Liquid made choices he stuck by them and would never budge. He always had plenty of reasons to support his actions to counter any argument.

"A great fighter and a wonderful debater…" Ebony thought to herself. "To think that had been our last goodbye…"

She had done as she had promised and brought Liquid's body back to base. His grave was now in the mountains a few miles away from the base. They had been a favourite place of his to practise shooting or for when he needed a quiet spot away from anybody else. It was also the place where their paths had split apart.

Ebony couldn't say that she had ever believed in life after death. Death was something she fought to avoid and had never thought much further on the idea. To her, death meant she would no longer be able to fight anymore, but it sometimes troubled her that she was doing all this, then one day it would stop and would all be for nothing. She hoped that if she saw Liquid again he would be happy once more. Happy knowing that there was somebody who cared, took revenge and finished what he had left behind. It was the only thing that kept her from destroying the base to end her deal with Ocelot.

"Somewhere I'll find a use for his plans, I've just got to bide my time and wait for the opportunity when it comes." Ebony sighed.

_"If it ever comes…" _Something inside her said. _"You could go on like this for years and never get what you want!"_

"Shut up!" Ebony told herself.

So far, both she and Ocelot had kept their half of the deal. Ebony had given Ocelot the use of her own base, handed over command of her soldiers to him, all to help him sell the technical data of Metal Gear REX to raise enough funds for himself to design and construct his own Metal Gear. Her own money had been put into it but she had been prudent enough to divert some of the cash flow so that it would not all end up being spent on Ocelot's project. If it the plans went awry then she would have some money to bring things back together.

Of course, the specs that Ocelot had sold had been rewritten. The end result was an inferior copy of the REX design so that Ocelot could keep ahead of the others. It would be no use if suddenly one of his clients decided to turn on him and they had a Gear that was of equal strength to his version. This had been courtesy of the engineers and technicians, the people who built the nuclear warheads to go with the new Metal Gear. All of them were Russian, out of work and desperate for anything to apply their skills and imagination to. Victims of the Cold War ending and the several treaties devised to reduce the stockpiles of nuclear weapons. That had allowed some of them to be paid quite cheaply as they had been out of work for so long and in dire need of some kind of paid work. It meant that more of the money could be spent on hiring far more workers to hasten the production of this Metal Gear and allow more to be lavished on making it as advanced as possible.

Ebony hadn't seen the final result of what they had conjured up, but had been following the production closely, impressed at what they were building.

Snake had also been brought to the base in one piece. For how long Ebony would tolerate his presence she did not yet know. All that they had to do was see what America's reaction would be when they announced their possession of a Metal Gear and the capture of their hero.

"I'm sure if I feel generous I'll let Ocelot use that oversized chunk of metal on Snake for his own amusement." Ebony smiled. "Why did I let him bring it with him?" She sighed recalling the trouble they had transporting the machine Ocelot lifted up from Shadow Moses.

"It'll be a nice way to get Snake started and it will have to do. I'll think of something else to use when I get warmed up. I have my ways of getting what I want." Ebony thought with a smile and unclipped her radio to summon two soldiers. Time to have a friendly discussion with Snake.

Continued in chapter 3 coming soon…!


	3. Desert Roses Have Thorns Chapter 3

Desert Roses Have Thorns.

Chapter 3.

By the time Meryl had reached the airport it had begun snowing gently. Hopefully it would get no worse and delay any flight she might have to make out of Alaska.

"Come on Hal…" She muttered taking a look at her watch. Meryl was waiting in the arrivals for him, and his flight had arrived only a few minutes ago. She'd had no time to think about what would happen next. Meryl's main concern was what the government would do about Snake's kidnapping if anything at all. If they said no she did not know what she would do.

"As far as they're concerned he's only good for ensuring their security and stopping them from falling down in from of the rest of the world. They only care about him when they need him." Meryl thought sadly with a shake of her head. She looked up wondering where all the people had come from all of a sudden, before realising that they had all unloaded off the plane. In amongst the crowd she saw one tall, skinny, grey haired man heading her way, a laptop in its carry-case in one of his hands and pulling a suitcase along behind him on its wheels with his other.

"Meryl!" He called out to her. She smiled and walked to meet him.

"Hal!" Meryl threw her arms around him.

"Warm welcome." He smiled and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and they slid down again a little. They stood around for a moment or two not sure what to say to each other, neither of them wanted to be the first to speak out about what had happened.

"Roy…told me the news just when I got off the plane." Hal said gently.

"I…know, he said he would." Meryl hung her head and her shoulders drooped.

"It's not much of a birthday for Dave is it?" Otacon put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry… I'm not much good at trying to cheer people up." He apologised. "I'm in the doldrums myself, and misery loves company."

"No, it's okay!" Meryl smiled. "We'll have to make it up for him later."

"I'm sure Dave will like that. Anyway, I'd better tell you what's happened so far." Hal looked around briefly and moved to another spot so nobody could eavesdrop easily.

"When I first heard what happened I really couldn't believe that the government would take it seriously, but from what your father told me, this is being stepped up to a full blown mission." Hal said quietly. Meryl perked up.

"Great!" She grinned but her smile vanished when she noticed that Hal held onto the sombre expression on his face.

"Yeah, it's good that they are doing something about it but think about it. They would never go to so much trouble to get Dave back just because he has gone missing. You know what happened on Shadow Moses. They were quite happy to blow us all into dust with a nuclear strike. The other thing is Roy said that they would need me to take part in the mission too." He continued in hushed tones.

"You?" Meryl's eyebrows arched up in surprise.

"I don't know, well…I have an idea but I don't want to say it in case I'm wrong. But one thing is certain; they would never do this unless something came up and they _needed_ Snake."

Meryl nodded in agreement. She had an idea of what Hal was hinting at but couldn't understand how it could be possible so soon after Shadow Moses.

"So what do we do now?" Meryl asked.

"There's a flight waiting for us, laid on by the government to take us to the airbase where the mission is going to be monitored and controlled." Otacon looked at his watch. "Roy said it should be there just after my flight came in so we should hurry and get there now."

He took Meryl's bag for her and led the way ahead for. Meryl could only follow; her mind was stuck in automatic as it had been when she realised that Snake had gone.

When she returned to normal, Meryl found herself on the plane, Otacon sitting next to her belting up. Something squishy in her pocket attracted her attention and she took it out to see what it was.

"Oh…what's that?" Hal asked still wrestling with his belt. Meryl clipped herself in and began to help Hal out with his own seat belt.

"You know for somebody who's more in touch with modern technology, I'd have thought you'd be able to figure out the simple stuff like your seat belt." Meryl smiled once she was done helping Hal and then held up the object she'd plucked from her pocket.

"It's Dave's bandanna…" Meryl pulled it around her own forehead and scowled. "Think it suits me?" She laughed.

"He'd go mad if he saw you doing that!" Hal laughed.

"It's just special to him and I thought that whoever goes to find him should take it to give to him." She sighed, folded it up again, and put it back in the pocket she had found it in.

"You think…he'll be alright?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah. If I know Dave he'll be fine. He'll come back alive; he knows how to look after himself fine." Hal smiled reassuringly at her.

"I suppose, yeah." Meryl sighed, settling down before take off.

»»»»»»

Snake had managed to grab some sleep until a guard came in earlier to check up on him and left the lights on. Since then he hadn't been disturbed and it had given him a chance to view his surroundings. To his disappointment, there were no windows and no air ducts and with him tied up the way he was, escape was impossible.

Time meant nothing right now, Snake had no idea if it was day or night outside, and the base ran the same way whatever the time was so this was just simple denial of any kind of method to gauge time as it passed.

He lifted his head at the sound of the lock in the door being released and lay it back down again as Ebony entered accompanied by two of her mercenary soldiers, one Arab just like her and a white man. They were kitted out in desert camouflage gear carrying sub machine guns. The Arab had a scarf wrapped round his face so that only his eyes peeped out; the other had a hat on shading his eyes. Ebony took a couple of steps forward and looked down at Snake.

"Hello Snake." She grinned at him and flicked her long black hair out of her eyes.

"Hmmpf!" Snake simply grunted ignoring her. Ebony folded her arms across her chest and waved the two men forwards to Snake.

"You're going to have to drop that attitude Snake; I won't tolerate it for much longer."

One man kneeled down next to Snake and drew out a small dagger concealed in his uniform and started to saw through the ropes round Snake's ankles. Once it was done, the man stood up, took up his rifle again, and trained it on Snake.

"What do you want?" Snake breathed, sitting himself up against the wall.

"Answers to some questions I have bothering me about you." Ebony replied bluntly.

Snake frowned and looked up at her.

"Well whatever they are I don't have the answers you might be looking for."

Ebony nodded to one of the men and they forced Snake up onto his feet, stood behind him, and rammed the barrel of his rifle into the small of Snake's back, pushing him onwards to Ebony who took hold of the ropes around his wrists and prompted him to start walking. One guard followed along beside her. The other one followed behind.

While they walked along the corridors, Snake tried to take in as much as he could about the place just in case the opportunity for escape came up. They hadn't thought of denying him of the brief recon, perhaps Ebony was confident of him not escaping or she just had not thought of that possibility.

"Pity Otacon wasn't here with his tomato ketchup!" Snake smiled to himself remembering the trick he had used to break out of the cell when he was captured on his mission on Shadow Moses.

It didn't take long before they reached their destination still on the same floor and deep inside the building. A large, clean room, brightly lit, a couple of computers, lockers and other storage cabinets along the walls.

"What the Hell!" Snake breathed to himself. Ebony heard him and peered around from where she was behind him.

"That thing was on Shadow Moses." Snake thought when he saw the torture machine in the center of the room. It was exactly like the one Ocelot used, just like the one Snake had seen in his bad dreams so many months ago.

Snake went rigid at the sound of metal clinking on the floor tiles. Boots. With spurs.

"Ocelot!" Snake spat as the old man and ex FOX-HOUND member came into view from an adjoining room. He had a pleased look on his face, the kind of happy look that could only be found on Ocelot just before he was about to start indulging in his hobby.

"Ah, Snake!" He smiled. "Decided to come back for more?" He sneered.

"_Ocelot…_"Ebony warned and pulled Snake closer in front of her. "…we had a deal."

"Just a figure of speech, nothing to be taken seriously Ebony, dear." Ocelot chuckled. "I've made last minute checks. Everything is ready to go smoothly for you." He said gesturing to where he had just appeared. He's all yours…" And turned to leave the room.

"I thought you would want to stay and watch." Ebony stopped him.

"I would love to see if I've taught you well but you know I have other things to attend to. Another time perhaps." He shot a glance at Snake and grinned as the two soldiers clamped Snake into the machine.

Ebony waved a hand at them and whispered something to them both. They nodded in acknowledgement before leaving with a quick salute. She watched as they both left then turned to face Snake, her arms folded in front of her. Snake didn't care to look at her, he was too tired and trying to focus himself in preparation for what was about to come.

Something caught Ebony's eye and she took a few steps until she was standing right in front of Snake.

"Hmmm…" She hummed softly and ran a hand over his bare chest. "This is nice…" Ebony leaned closer and Snake felt her lift the chain Meryl had given to him that morning. She stood up straight and ripped it off him.

"Hey!" Snake shouted at her. Ebony didn't listen; she was too busy admiring it.

"Let's start on this then." Ebony said holding it out at one end between her finger and thumb and slowly walked to stand behind the control panel in front of Snake.

"Something nice and easy for you…who gave this to you?" Ebony questioned him ad held up the string of silver links once more. "It's very nice, whoever gave it to you has good taste. It's not cheap junk either." She noted as she took a closer look at it and the small hallmarks stamped into the clasp.

Snake remained silent.

_"What business is it to her who gave it to me? Why is it important anyway?"_ Snake thought. He knew that this was just something Ebony was using to try to get a rise out of him.

"Snake…" Ebony called. "Answer me. If you do not I won't be so nice anymore and so far I have been quite pleasant by my standards towards prisoners. You know, other prisoners have not been quite as unfortunate as you have. At least for them it didn't take long before they died but I intend on making it as long and as painful as possible for you. So, I'll ask again; who was it that gave this to you?"

Ebony waited expectantly for a minute, studying her prisoner from head to toe before deciding that she had been waiting for long enough.

Snake could hear her pressing buttons on the control panel. He clenched his fists, tried to relax and brace himself at the same time. The machinery began to hum all around him and slowly pitched into a thin whine. It steadily got higher until it became a dry buzz. Suddenly the buzzing snapped out, sending pain throughout his body and left numbness behind. It was not long before the muscles in his body became confused and wouldn't follow the instructions he sent to them. The shouts he'd been keeping inside eventually came out in one long scream.

The current stopped, but it still pulsed away in the machine. Ebony stepped into Snake's view; she twirled the chain in one hand and put her other hand on her hip.

"Well let's guess stop me if I'm right. Was it a friend? Couldn't have been family, you don't have any. Yourself?" Ebony lifted up his chin and looked him in the eye. She tilted her head to one side with a frown.

"No, you're not vain enough." She stood back and put the chan in a pocket on the chest of her shirt.

"Ah!" Her eyes seemed to brighten and she grinned, flashing white teeth. "Girlfriend…Meryl isn't it?" Ebony teased. Snake's head snapped up at the sound of her name.

_"Why does she keep on mentioning Meryl?"_ He thought.

"What do you know about her? I've never seen you before, you seem to know a lot about me and…" Snake hissed, his eyebrows knitted together into a scowl. His words were a little blurred with the electric shock. Ebony grinned again.

"Your twin brother told me." She laughed. "Liquid Snake."

"WHAT?" Snake shouted. "But he's…he's supposed to be…"

"…dead. He is dead." Ebony spat and breathed in deeply.

"I've known Liquid a long time and I hadn't seen him for a few years. When I heard about him on Shadow Moses through other mercenaries, I left here to check it out, hoping that I would see him again. And when I got there, he was dead. Shot and beaten…"

Ebony returned to the controls and pressed a button, watching Snake intently.

"Dead because of you!" She screamed and more volts of electricity surged through Snake's body. He watched through half closed eyes and tried to remain strong until it was over. The power died down.

"I met Liquid soon after he was released from Iraqi imprisonment. He appeared in a gun battle I was in and he took the matter of my father's death into his own hands. He was unwell, and starved, yet he chased down the sniper who killed my father and wounded me. Ever since then we worked together for years. Never once were we apart. Then he was recruited by FOX-HOUND and he had to leave. We never saw each other again after that day." Ebony explained calmly.

Snake noticed her rubbing her thumb on something gold hanging on a chain round her neck but it was difficult for him to see clearly, what it was.

Snake was not sure what to make of Ebony's sudden calm; it was when she was cool that he couldn't work out what her next move would be. At least when she was angry he knew that she would hurt him.

Ebony pressed a few more buttons on the console and soft beeps confirmed the new settings. She turned back to face him.

"You killed the only one I could ever trust, the one who I could truly believe in. You should know yourself that good friends are hard to find when you are a mercenary and they are all too easy to loose when suddenly you find yourselves on opposing sides. When I did reach Shadow Moses I found Liquid's mission log and that's where I learned more about you and your involvement. Revolver Ocelot was still on the island and we've been working together. He told me about the mission and let me see the camera recordings."

Ebony had been pacing around while she spoke and after finishing, she spun round and stared at Snake sharply.

"I know how you go about your killing. I saw you _murder_ Liquid." She snarled savagely.

"I did kill Liquid but get one thing right; I never murdered Liquid." Snake growled back.

Ebony bit her lower lip in frustration and bumped the settings up just that little bit more.

"SO WHAT WAS IT THEN?" She screamed at Snake. More electricity crackled through Snake, stronger and caused no end of agony for him. He began to howl out again.

_"How long is this going to last?"_ Sake thought weakly over the jagged confusion in his mind.

Finally, it ceased.

"Did you enjoy killing Liquid? Did it feel good that you could go back home with Meryl, Snake?" Ebony snapped at him.

"Stop dragging her into this, it's me you've got axes to grind with, not Meryl!" Snake shouted. "Of course I didn't 'enjoy' killing Liquid. I had no choice, it was the only way I had. Don't tell me that if I captured you, threatened to kill you and Liquid, he wouldn't have done the same." He argued.

Ebony seemed to deliberate over the question for a second but quickly returned to her attack.

"What matters to me is that you killed Liquid. You took away the life of the only man I could trust, have complete faith in. I had hoped to repay my debt to him while he was still alive but you have prevented that. Now the only way I can even with him is with your blood." Ebony said coldly.

Snake had no time to ready himself for the next shock. Ebony put the power up higher. Snake could hardly breathe, he'd lost all control, and the only shred he had left was a faint instinctive effort to try to work himself free despite the fact that it was futile. His cries came out as strangled howls and gurgles, choking as he struggled for a lungful of air. The electricity still ripped away inside and over him.

The power was shut down and Snake slouched down in the restraints, his head hung down and his every breath rasped as he battled with himself to simply breath. Ebony walked slowly up towards him and lifted his chin up.

"That'll be enough for now. I will be back soon Snake. Until then I'll send some of the soldiers to keep you company." She smiled at him.

Ebony unclipped the radio from her belt and spat a few words of Arabic into it. Seconds later four soldiers arrived.

"See you later Snake!" Ebony waved to him and span round to leave him.

The soldiers crowded round Snake, looking at each other, silently exchanging ideas to one another.

"It's starting again…" Snake shook his head before his teeth were rattled with the first punch in his face.

»»»»»»

Meryl was woken up by a soft nudge and opened her eyes, looking round for where it had come from. Otacon smiled at her and pushed his glasses into place again.

"Huh? What's up?" Meryl yawned.

"We've just touched down at the airbase." He said quietly and unbuckled his belt. "It's just a short ride in a jeep before we get to where it's being handled."

"Uh, okay." Meryl yawned again and stretched out of her dream.

"What time is it now?"

Hal pushed up his sleeve to look at his watch.

"Early evening. Come on we'd better get a move on." He said to her as he got up, and collected his bags.

They found their way to the door and Meryl wobbled down the stairs to the runway. There were armed soldiers all around on patrol or waiting for them.

"Doctor Emmerich and Miss Silverburgh?" Asked a soldier as he stepped forwards from the rest of the men standing guard.

"That's us." Hal answered.

"Okay, just this way. A quick trip before we get to the comms center to meet up with the rest of the team for mission briefing." He explained leading the pair over to a dark green jeep and opened the door for them both. An open top jeep with a mounted machine gun was loaded up with four soldiers and escorted them as they were driven deeper into the base.

From the window, Meryl could see more armed soldiers patrolling, equipped with heavy body armor and weapons. Minutes later, they pulled up outside one large building with a tower topped off with satellite dishes, radar domes and several aerials. It was surrounded in chain link fence and barbed wire and was heavily patrolled too. As she got out of the jeep, Meryl saw her father Roy Campbell, Mei Ling and Doctor Naomi waiting for them flanked by more soldiers. Meryl didn't wait for somebody to open her door and leapt out to meet her Dad.

"Meryl!" Roy called with a smile on his face as she ran up to greet him with a hug.

"Dad!"

"Are you alright?" He asked. Meryl stood back as Hal came to stand beside her.

"I'm fine I guess…" She suddenly stopped noticing that Naomi and Mei Ling were watching on. Meryl shook her head. "No…that's a lie…I miss him. I'm…afraid…" Hal put a hand on her shoulder telling her not to worry. At least now, she was with people who wanted Snake back as much as she did.

"Well…" Roy drew himself up to stand tall. "Meryl, Hal…" He said addressing each of them. "Come inside and we shall go over the mission briefing and orders." He smiled lightly but it seemed that everybody did it, just to hide and make themselves feel better.

The small group were ringed by the soldiers, ushered into the building where Roy was saluted by any soldiers that they passed.

The corridors were clean and shiny, brightly lit like they were going on parade instead. They passed through two sets of doors, which had soldiers on guard and were sealed shut with security passes. Stairs took them down under to the basement with more security. All signs that the government and military were deadly serious about the mission.

Meryl looked up at Hal to see if she could make anything of his feelings by looking at him. He just walked along with a plain expression, lips pressed together to form a straight line; he was starting to get anxious about the mission and what it entailed.

The actual briefing room was quite large, a long table in the center with chairs on either side. On the furthest wall, a white projector screen had been set up, on the opposite wall, a digital projector was tucked away in a separate room with an opening for it to show slides via a connection to a computer.

Meryl collapsed into one of the high backed chairs and spun round in it once to momentarily forget all that was bearing down on her mind while Hal sat down next to her and the others sat on the side opposite them. A clerk brought in a laptop computer and placed it in front of the Colonel and set it up to the projector. The clerk quickly left and the door was shut as soldiers took up their posts outside.

Roy glanced around the table at everybody before he began.

"Well…" He began and stood up. "I won't gloss over what happened in Alaska a few hours ago today and I understand that everybody present has an idea of the situation but I will recap to make it clear what has brought on the order for this mission to go ahead." He paused at the head of the table.

"Meryl called me after Snake was captured at their home in Alaska. No traces were found and no witnesses to the scene. At first, this mission was not going to happen but soon after I'd contacted the authorities, military and government officials including the president received a message which confirmed Snake's disappearance. Mei Ling," The Colonel swept a hand towards the young lady who smiled kindly at everybody. "…traced the transmission to a base in the Middle East where it originated and where we believe Snake is being held."

Meryl sighed and Otacon smiled at her.

"At least we know where he could be now…" Meryl told herself.

"But…" Roy continued. "…Snake's disappearance is not the only thing which ruffled a few feathers. At the same location and as mentioned in the video transmission something… something very unexpected has appeared. A new Metal Gear has revealed itself."

Meryl went stiff at the sound of its name and Hal closed his eyes, and placed his hands over his eyes pushing his glasses up onto his forehead.

"Metal Gear…!" Meryl spluttered out.

The colonel nodded.

"We don't have visual confirmation that the mercenaries have a Metal Gear in their hands but it at least explains why Solid Snake is also there too. They know that Snake is the only one who can take on Metal Gear. Taking him out of the reach of the military or government so that he could be pulled into a mission to destroy it puts us in a very awkward position. We don't have anybody nearly as qualified or as experienced as Snake in these situations. That is why they have sat up and taken note of Snake's disappearance." Roy explained. Meryl pushed back her chair and got up, slamming her palms down on the table.

"You mean to say that before Metal Gear got thrown into the mix, they couldn't have cared less about what might happen to Snake!" Meryl asked raising her voice. Hal put a hand on her arm.

"Meryl…calm down." He said quietly. Meryl shook it off and remained standing, looked her father hard in the eye demanding an answer.

"Dad tell me!" She shouted.

"I will admit that it was looking like they were not going to take it any further until Metal Gear was revealed." Roy swallowed nervously. "The entire mission is only happening because of the threat and we need Snake to find out if the statement is true. If it proves to be genuine then Snake will have to destroy it."

"I can't wait to see what Snake makes of that…" Hal sighed shaking his head. Meryl sat down again, still seething but in a way glad that something had kicked their backsides into action.

"Whoever gets lumbered with this is going to have to be able to argue with him!" Meryl smiled to herself.

"Exactly that Hal. We have no way of contacting Snake so the first objective is to send in somebody to contact him and then allow us to directly contact Snake. However we have very few operatives that are capable of this kind of mission but Snake is not going to find it easy to swallow orders coming from a green infiltration specialist. And even then the ones we do have aren't finished with their training. I also believe that he wouldn't take to a VR trained operative very well. We must try to gain contact with Snake to find and destroy Metal Gear. Failing that the last resort is an air strike but this means we run the risk of many complications concerning the presence of Metal Gear and international relations with other countries." Roy finished.

Meryl leaned back in the chair and sighed. She had something in her mind, an idea that was maybe worth trying.

"Didn't I see one of those VR soldiers anyway?" She thought. "That blonde with the long hair who I thought was a girl? The one with Jack on his name badge? I can't let somebody like that go and rescue Snake. He wouldn't last a second against Snake!" Meryl smiled to herself.

"I want to go, but look what happened when I tried to help him out." Meryl thought. "I got captured by Wolf and then he got captured to and tortured. Mantis took over my mind… I was a failure even though the mission was a success." Meryl paused. "But I did help him…the wolf-dogs, the mines, the cardkeys… and I guess trying to save me helped him too." Meryl remembered him telling her how trying to save her had given him a proper goal to the mission when before he hadn't really had a purpose to doing it only to keep his freedom after the government had threatened him with blackmail.

Meryl got up out of her chair.

"Send me!" She announced. Everybody looked up and stared at her.

"Meryl!" Otacon hissed at her. "What are you doing?"

"Trust me." She whispered back to him.

"Who better to send than somebody who knows Snake than some fresh grunt who's probably all excited about being let out of their video games and onto the field?" Meryl asked. Roy looked over to Naomi who shrugged her shoulders.

"They wouldn't last in an argument with Snake for a second. At least he trusts me, and I can probably talk him round into completing the mission much better than them." Meryl added. She looked at her Dad hopefully.

There was a sign that the colonel was fighting with himself over the decision to send his own daughter into a dangerous mission. On one hand she would probably prove to be more successful in the most crucial part of the mission; persuading Snake. But then she was his own flesh and blood and didn't want to risk loosing her and no doubt Snake wouldn't want that to happen either. But then again when she reached Snake, Meryl would be in safe hands under his protection.

Roy sat and cogitated over the pros and cons for a few minutes before sitting back up.

"I can see how letting you go into the mission would be advantageous and while I don't want to send you away, I've think it might just work." The colonel finally stated.

"YES!" Meryl said to herself in her head. "At least then I'll be able to give whoever took Snake a piece of my mind." Meryl thought venomously.

Meryl looked up at her father.

"Tell me about the mission. I have to know everything you have. I want to know who's behind it all. I want to see that video message…" She began. Roy smiled at her and began to access the files on the mission for the official briefing.

"I know. Just take it one step at a time!" he laughed at her.

≈≈≈≈≈≈

The room had long fallen silent but the sound of his bones crunching and the loud smacks when the soldiers attacked Snake still echoed in his ears. The strange words of hate, beating and being spat at had not lasted much longer than a few minutes but it had been non-stop and intense.

The four men stood about in the room talking to each other or smoked. Occasionally they shot glances at Snake and ask him questions which he never answered. He just clammed up now that he'd accepted that he really was a prisoner of Ebony's. Snake couldn't afford to say too much.

One of the soldiers walked up towards Snake and held up a packet of cigarettes, one of them was pulled out a little from the rest.

"Smoke?" The soldier offered quietly. Snake slowly lifted his head, the craving for nicotine emerged and he smiled a little. The soldier's eyes lit up and smiled back at Snake from where they peeped out of the gap in the scarf he had around his head. The soldier was only young. Just a teenager and not much older than seventeen.

Snake carefully and graciously took the cigarette out with his mouth, rolled it between his lips so it wouldn't fall and the young man lit it. One of the older guerrillas looked up from his rifle and saw the tiny act. He came rushing up to the boy screaming at him, knocked the packet out of his hand scattering them everywhere onto the floor and raised his rifle up into the air. The boy shrank and threw his arms up to fend him off.

"Poor kid…" Snake sighed to himself.

"Oh shut up!" A female voice shouted as the door opened. Snake glanced up and almost dropped his cigarette. Ebony had returned.

"Leave the boy alone! If I see you raise your hand to him again, I'll personally see that Ocelot is told. You forget that out of the two of you, he is the better fighter." Ebony growled to the older man and pointed to the boy.

She bent down to gather up the young soldier's cigarettes and put them back into his hands with a kind smile. Standing up again, she waved her hand and barked a single word for the order to dismiss the soldiers from their task.

"Ugh!" Ebony wrinkled her nose up at Snake as she turned round to face him. "What have they been doing to you?"

She stood right in front of where Snake was still clamped into the machine and took out a handkerchief. She began to wipe spit of his face and chest.

"Don't think that this means I'm softening up on you. I send soldiers to stand guard and to keep an eye on you, not to make a pest of themselves. She said glancing up at him.

When she was done, Ebony wiped her hands on her trousers and stuffed the tissue into a pocket, folding her arms across her chest.

"You may finish your cigarette but that will be the last." Ebony said firmly.

Snake tried to make it last hoping that it would somehow put her off the next round of torture. He took in small drags at a time, took the time to enjoy it before he let the butt fall onto the floor. Ebony paced about the room and while she was out of his view Snake heard some noise as she fidgeted with something. The sound of a popper opening and a faint swish was behind him, then Ebony returned to face him again.

"So…" She began standing in front of him with her hands behind her back. "…do you remember this when you last saw Liquid?"

Ebony took her hands from behind her and held up a knife. At first it looked like any other that Snake had seen but soon remembered that it had been the one Liquid had tried to use on him.

"Liquid's last entry in his logbook was about this. It was me who gave it to him after we first met and I'm sorry that he never got to use it as he'd planned." Ebony snapped. She suddenly stepped right in front of Snake and brought the blade up so that the edge was pressed against his throat. It was just hard enough to hurt him but soft enough that she wouldn't kill him by accident. Snake held his breath afraid to move in case he moved and managed to cut himself.

"No…not yet." Ebony whispered to him. She lowered the knife before bringing it up again at the last minute, flicked the tip of it up and scored a deep cut across Snake's cheek. He turned his head away at the sight of the light flashing off the metal and hushed his shout to a quiet growl. It had drawn blood, trickling down the rest of his cheek. Ebony smiled as she wiped the knife on her trousers and put it back in its sheath on her belt.

"Now…" She stood herself behind the control panel. "…where did we leave off?" The machine switched on and almost immediately a quick shock leapt out and lasted for a few seconds.

"Just getting you warmed up a little Snake." Ebony laughed at him and looked back down at the console.

"No, that wasn't what I had it set at before…" Ebony muttered to herself and mashed a few buttons. The pitch of the whining got higher and she nodded in satisfaction.

"I didn't like Alaska much when I visited. It never stops snowing and it is always so cold. Why do you live there of all places Snake?" She asked with a curious look on her face.

Snake didn't bother to question her and decided to answer.

"It's peaceful there. Nobody bothers me in Alaska." Snake replied simply. "Just people like you and Liquid come to spoil it."

Ebony reached out to slam her hand down on the buttons, and quickly stopped. She shook her head.

"I feel like a change from watching you frizzle away." She sighed and walked up to him. Ebony first let Snake's wrists free, quickly tying them together before he could make a move and then ducked down to release his legs. She grabbed hold of his wrists and led him out of the room.

Snake didn't bother to try and stop her, it was at least a chance for him to see some of the barracks; essential and useful recon if he managed to escape.

They found their way outside in a small yard boxed in by the building. Looking around, Snake saw that it was night, no clouds in the sky, the stars all out for show.

"Don't think I'll be able to enjoy them tonight." Snake thought as Ebony pulled him along.

The ground was covered with sand, razor wire ran round the building tops. The only source of light was a single flood light. The bulb inside it was on its way out and only cast a dull glow. Ebony left Snake standing on his own for a moment, took a couple of steps away and crouched down, her fingers digging away at something in the sand and came back up with a fistful of sand, throwing it into Snake's face.

"Arrgh! Hey!" Snake shouted and shut his eyes. He put his hands up to his eyes and rubbed them to get the sand out forgetting that he was only making it worse. Ebony chuckled away to herself as she watched him stumble around then walked behind him and pushed him over onto his front.

"Only a little sand Snake. Your brother could take it." She sneered at him and pulled him up onto his feet again. Snake couldn't help himself from blinking, his eyes were puffy, red and watery like he was about to burst into tears. Ebony led him blindly by his hands.

"It shouldn't be a problem for you to stay out here for the night when you're so used to living in Alaska. Nights are cold here, but Meryl won't be here for you to cuddle up to." Ebony laughed at him and forced Snake to sit down on the ground.

Soldiers were leaning out of the windows above waving rifles and handguns. Ebony knelt in front of Snake, a tall, metal light post in between them as she carefully untied his wrists.

"She's not paying much attention. Especially to that knife she's got." Snake thought as he peered through his gritty eyes. He focused his attention on it and watched Ebony with one eye. The opportunity came when she pulled the ropes apart and left herself open. Snake quickly snatched out and pulled the knife away from her.

"What the…!" Ebony gasped glancing down and then looked up as Snake began to make a stab with the blade. Just before the tip met her stomach, Ebony grabbed Snake's wrists and forced them back with surprising strength. She fought back and the guerrillas above began shouting and calling to each other in a panic as their leader was in danger.

Snake ground his teeth as Ebony dug her nails into his arms, still forcing them backward over his head. His arms began to shudder and feel weak. Ebony kept the pressure on.

"Let go Snake!" She spat at him and sank her nails in deeper. Metallic clicks echoed out all around them and Snake looked up to see the soldiers pointing their weapons at him. He looked back to Ebony and let the knife fall from his grip.

"Very good. Now next time don't try to pull a stunt like that again." She growled at him and forced one of his arms back. There was a dull crack in his shoulder, sharp and painful but nothing had been broken.

Ebony scooped up her weapon after she'd finished with tying Snake up to the post hand and foot and kicked him in the face, throwing up more sand into his eyes. Snake shrank away from the blow and when he looked up again, Ebony was gone, a door slammed shut signalling that she had left him alone.

"Looks like I'll just have to get used to this…" Snake sighed to himself. "I doubt anybody knows I'm gone except for Meryl, or even cares." He took a look up at the soldiers who just sat watching him from their dormitories. Snake shivered in the cold and tucked himself up a little.

"Meryl…what is this doing to you?" He muttered to nothing forcing his sore eyes to close shut.

Continued in chapter 4.


	4. Desert Roses Have Thorns Chapter 4

Desert Roses Have Thorns.

Chapter 4.

Quick note before I start; I'm afraid Snake doesn't feature hugely in this section and focuses more on the two main ladies Ebony and Meryl, but I try to keep the chapters roughly the same length. Snake will have more of a part in the next chapter! And why shouldn't there be an all girls chapter? - Also when I type in italics for a section it refers to a flash back of Ebony's past. It's an improvement I've made on the last copy just to define the past from the present and make it clearer. And another thing I've changed is Ayesha, Ebony's medic. I was going to leave introducing her until later on in the original version but I've brought her in this chapter. I would have left the old copy up but I thought I'd better delete it in case, so if this is your first read through of this fic, I'm sorry if I'm confusing you!

_"Ebony." A voice called out softly to her. She opened her eyes to look around for the voice. There was a dirty sand coloured canvas above her on one side that was the make shift tent they'd sheltered under and the thin camping mat on the other side of her which she was lying down on. Out of the corner of her eye, Ebony saw a strong tanned arm over her. Ebony murmured softly to them a few gentle Arabic words and shifted around, the rocky ground dug into her side through the mat._

_A few moments later and the voice answered with more kind words, a pair of dark hazel eyes lined up with hers and strands of golden blonde hair framed the face before her._

_"Good sleep?" Liquid asked. Ebony nodded sleepily._

_"Cold." She added and he chortled heartily._

_"I did notice. You stole my blanket and still not satisfied you decided to cuddle up and wouldn't let go of me!"_

_Ebony felt herself burning up in embarrassment; her cheeks flared up a red colour underneath her brown skin._

_"I'm sorry…I didn't mean…" She began and twisted around shyly._

_"Oh now don't take it like that. I don't mind Ebony. It would do neither of us any good if we froze to death which seems crazy when we're in the desert." Liquid smiled and reached over to rest his hand on Ebony's cheek. Ebony shut her eyes at his touch and felt herself relax._

_"Today I think we'll finish this job. Once it's done the money will come in and we'll return to base." Liquid explained slowly. Ebony opened her eyes a little._

_"Back home?" She asked._

_"Yes. Back home." Liquid nodded._

_"It's been so long…I look forward to it." Ebony smiled. _

_The mission had taken far longer than either of them had expected and Ebony found herself loosing interest. It wasn't easy trekking across the desert and it was a deadly feeling to have. But Liquid managed to keep her going the image of their reward was one thing she tried to keep in mind. It was also becoming harder to find jobs that were so highly paid, competition was fierce, even for mercenaries with the reputation that Ebony and Liquid had. _

_Ebony got up onto her feet and saw how night was being chased away by the sun._

_"We'll have to start moving before the sun gets too high in the sky." Ebony reminded herself. She grabbed her rifle and set it down next to her and a few other weapons she'd brought with her. She combed her hair with her fingers, unknotting the tangles._

_Liquid watched unaware that he was staring again and passed her a ration and her water flask, snapping himself out of it._

_"So, we're still following our plan as we discussed?" Ebony asked as Liquid pulled on his shirt on top of the top he had been sleeping in and then a combat vest on top of it. He unfolded a map and spread it out on the dusty rock. Red lines marked out their route. Along side each point was scribbled notes about what they had to do._

_"Of course. I think we've gone over this quite enough and it wouldn't feel right if our plan were too perfect. It would make me think that we were being led into a trap." Liquid said as he scanned the map, tore off a mouthful from his ration, and chewed it a few times. He looked up at Ebony who munched on her own dry breakfast._

_"I wish we could take out each target together, but you know how it is…" He sighed and ran a hand over his stubbly chin._

_"We'd be easily spotted and we want this over with quickly." Ebony finished for him as she rolled up their beds and put one into each of their packs. _

_They sat down again, still eating their rations with gulps of water then began to take down the shelter. Ebony stood by a small cliff edge in the hill they were on as Liquid packed the shelter into his own pack. He got up to stand beside her._

_"Come on Ebony, we've taken on much harder jobs than this." He said to her and turned her around to face him. Liquid noticed how much smaller she was than him; a good half foot shorter than his six foot tall frame._

_"I know that but don't let that trick you. You have to be confident in yourself but you can never become arrogant." Ebony said firmly. She looked up at him. "You will be okay?"_

_Liquid hugged her tightly._

_"I'll be fine. My arm isn't so bad anymore but Ayesha will have to take a look at it." He grinned at her and gestured to his bandaged forearm. They had met some bitter rivals who were less than pleased with the pair obtaining the mission instead of them. It was on the way over some mountains and in the gunfight, Liquid and Ebony took cover behind some boulders. The rival mercenaries had grenades and although Liquid had been out of the explosion's range to cause him serious injury or death, the metal shrapnel from the casing had reached him and sunk into his arm. _

_Liquid returned to where he had left his weapons and backpack. He shouldered his sniper rifle and carried his sub-machinegun in one hand then returned to where Ebony stood all kited up with her weapons and pack._

_"Take care Ebony. Remember, I'll call you on the radio when I'm done or if I need you." He smiled at her._

_"You be careful too, Liquid." She replied and softly touched his wounded arm. Liquid rolled his eyes and chuckled._

_"I have a proper name you know, just call me James. Please."_

_"Okay." Ebony smiled at him. "Goodbye then, James." Liquid laughed, patted her shoulder, and began to make his way across the rocks. Ebony stood and watched him as his surefooted steps took him down the rest of the hill out of her sight. Ebony sighed, adjusted the straps of her backpack, and made her own way down the hill away from James._

Ebony opened her eyes, the white ceiling of her room above instead of the blue sky and canvas she'd dreamed of. There was nobody around but she looked around hoping that Liquid would be there, sitting on a chair in the corner or waiting for her in the door way like he used to do in the mornings before they went out around the compound.

She'd been dreaming of a mission they took on two years after they first met. Ebony sat up and slowly put a hand up to touch the dog tag around her neck softly called his name.

"What was that?" She sat up and broke out of her dream's hold. She strained her ears and heard faint cheers, gunfire rattling out from the surface. Then closer to her a knock on the door.

"Come in." Ebony groaned and got up. She was still dressed in yesterday's clothes and picked up her belt and gun holster. Her Desert Eagle was still in the holster and loaded, Ebony only had to peek under her pillow to find the knife and attached it to her belt. She turned around to find the visitor, an older Arab woman dressed in quite casual clothes with a white lab coat on top. She had black hair streaked through with white swept up into a tight bun. Ebony brightened up when she saw the woman.

"Ayesha, morning. What's the problem?" Ebony asked as she laced up her boots.

"That…" The medic answered at the sound of another cheer. "Did you order that?"

"I definitely did not. What's going on anyway?" Ebony asked and stood up. Ayesha shook her head and sighed.

"Just come with me…"

She stumbled out of her room and ran up the stairs after Ayesha to the ground floor, the shouts and cries got louder and louder as she got closer to where she had left Snake last night.

Ebony pushed open the door to the yard outside and was rooted to the spot, unable to believe her eyes. Nearly all of her soldiers had crowded themselves into the yard and in the barracks upstairs. The men on the ground had formed a dense circle and in the middle of the ring, Ebony saw two of the biggest mercenary soldiers she had recruited taking on Solid Snake.

Both of the men were armed with whatever the crowd threw to them, guns, bottles, a chair had found it's way out a window from the second floor, Snake had nothing he only had his bare fists, feet and quick wits. He struggled along, half-blind with the sand he had in his eyes but carried on bravely. Ebony watched on as he ran around trying to evade his opponents, looking for a way to end it quickly. It was evident that he was starting to tire and was barely fending off the attacks.

Ebony was brought back to her senses when there was a loud smack and Snake was send skidding on his front in the dust. A loud roar sounded from the soldiers who waved their hands in the air. Ayesha looked at Ebony questioningly.

"Are you going to stop it?" She whispered.

Ebony began forcing her way through the soldiers and drew her Desert Eagle. She fired a single shot into the air and everybody stopped when she appeared next to Snake. A punch narrowly missed her, but she remained still and calm. The soldier who had thrown it withered under her disapproving stare.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" She shouted angrily and kept her gun in hand, she pointed it at the two men who moved away to be swallowed up by the crowd.

"Right, now who set him free and whose bright idea was it to start this fight!" She roared furiously. Snake barely moved from where he lay. She looked around at the faces in the human ring but all of them gave her a look that said that none of them was going to say anything.

"I did, it was me." A voice spoke out and the men parted to let the, through. Ebony spun around to see Revolver Ocelot striding towards her.

"YOU!" Ebony hissed loudly. "Snake is my business Ocelot…"

"But the men here are my business remember and I thought that they would like some entertainment. You did after all hand command of this base and the soldiers over to me for this venture." Ocelot smiled thinly at her.

Ebony balled her hands into fists; the blood began to simmer in her veins but kept her temper under tight reign.

"Yes, but Snake is my concern so find other ways to humour them. Even now I believe that these soldiers will answer to my call rather than yours." She shot back.

Ocelot dismissed the soldiers who left grumbling and talking to each other, disappointed that it was over.

"Is that right?" He laughed. "In the past you've given them little to fight for. With Metal Gear I've given these men a new purpose, a new hope."

Snake lifted his head and muttered under his breath something that only he could hear, but Ebony noticed that he had gone very pale under the coating of dirt on his skin.

"We've always had the ideals that my father had at the foundations of building this army. One day we will form a nation where…" Ebony shouted out.

"One day?" He laughed. "How long has your father peddled that to them? How many men have died believing that? Metal Gear can give you and men that and more…"

"ENOUGH!" Ebony screamed. "Just keep your hands off Snake."

"I'm sure I will, now that I've seen how possessive you are. I wonder, were you like that with Liquid when he was with you?" Ocelot smirked and left her to deal with Snake.

"Calm down, he knows that would only provoke a reaction. Don't give that scum the satisfaction of getting the better of you." Ebony told herself in her mind. She crouched down by Snake and tied up his wrists without a word. Footsteps in the sand approached her from behind.

"You're not going to start torturing him after all this?" Ayesha asked an edge to her words.

Ebony looked up; she had known Ayesha since she was a little girl, the motherly figure in her world that had filled in for the mother she had never known.

"That is the idea." Ebony answered and tightened the ropes around Snake's wrists. "Just keep out of it Ayesha, Ocelot has probably got casualties from last night anyway…"

"Bastard…" Snake hissed. Ebony nodded her head; for once, she had to agree with him, but she knew she still had something left to do for Liquid.

The old medic shook her head in despair.

"Keep out of it? Ebony I'm as much of a member of this base as anybody else and we all miss Liquid but…" Ayesha began. Ebony stood up and drew Snake up onto his knees with her.

"I don't think anybody will know how much I miss Liquid, you included." Ebony said firmly. "Then there are the people who think of his death as a great blessing… people like this…" Ebony gestured to Snake.

"And punishing them makes it all better does it?" Ayesha asked folding her arms. "It only makes another wrong. What about the people you've taken this man from? Did you consider them?"

Ebony laughed. Ayesha always had been so benevolent for a medic who worked under such conditions. It was a welcome change from the people that Ebony dealt with everyday.

"Well why not ask Snake the same question?" Ebony defended. She knew herself that when you killed somebody the first thought was anything but that person's life and the people linked into it. It was either kill or be killed in her world and in Snake's situation when he fought Liquid back on Shadow Moses island it was probably the same rule he had been fighting by.

Ayesha sighed, she knew that there would be no reasoning with Ebony but felt a grain of truth in her words. Ayesha hadn't known Liquid they way Ebony had, but from her place she had seen how he had helped Ebony up out of her father's death. For a moment, Ayesha almost believed that Liquid's death and the loss of Ebony's happiness with it was a punishable act, but her kind nature pushed the thought away.

"Just do what you feel, I won't interfere, but you won't have my support either." Ayesha finally announced and left Ebony behind.

Ebony watched the medic leave then looked back at Snake, battered from his fight.

"Come on. Get up. On your feet." Ebony barked.

Snake obeyed, struggling to stand up and limped along behind Ebony as she led him back inside, downstairs to the second floor basement, the prisoners' level.

As she dragged him along with her, Ebony almost felt like not torturing him again. Ocelot had done that already but it always seemed that whenever the memories of Liquid came back into the front of her mind she had to do something to stop it from hurting; she couldn't show Snake any mercy. Hurting him, making him cry made her pain go away, it dried up her tears. There was somebody who was at least suffering more than she was and the thought made her feel a little better.

Ebony was surprised that Snake didn't put up any resistance as she put the restraints around his wrists and ankles fixing him into the machine when they finally arrived at the prison floor. She noticed the scars on his body while she made sure that everything was set properly and guessed that they were fairly new.

"Did Liquid give you those?" Ebony asked him as she stood back and pointed to his left shoulder where a bullet had left its mark.

"So what if he did? Getting hurt is to be expected when you go to fight." Snake snapped.

"And as a prisoner?" Ebony pressed him with another question.

"Sometimes…" Snake was cut off with a blast of electricity and his voice rose up into screams.

"It's always when you're a prisoner of mine, Snake." Ebony smiled watching his thrashing around.

"Woken up yet?" She asked him as she turned the power down, leaving a faint but uncomfortable charge running through Snake. He was gasping for air and his head began to nod forwards.

"Ah, ah, ah! Snake it's not time to sleep yet!" Ebony laughed and pushed the voltage back up again once more a little under the maximum limit. She stood back and let it run on and rip through his body, taking a sip from her water bottle. Snake had given up with shouting he was beyond that point now and suffered in silence. The only sign of his agony was in his expression, the features on his face had pulled themselves into a grimace. Ebony leaned up against the console and watched.

"STOP!" Snake cried out a minute later, his voice sounded strained, the words jumped out of his throat.

"Pardon?" Ebony leaned forwards and smiled. She pretended that she hadn't heard him and wanted to hear him asking for her mercy again.

"STOP!" He shouted out louder. "Please…just make it stop…" He whimpered pathetically. Ebony paused for a moment to take in the sight of the greatest soldier alive now shattered.

"Giving up?" She shook her head in mock disappointment. "I was expecting a little more fight from you." She reached over to shut the machine right down and hovered her hand over the button where Snake could see.

"EBONY!" Snake hollered. There was a faint burning smell in the air and Ebony decided that it was the time to let him have his request and shut the power off completely. She could have killed him there but she still wanted to make him suffer more for the crime he had done to her and Liquid.

Snake fell forwards onto the floor with a grunt. He never reached out with his arms to break his fall. Ebony managed to catch him before he landed; it wouldn't help her if he killed himself by slamming onto the tiles and cracked open his skull. She noticed how hot he was, sticky with his sweat. She lifted up his arm and searched for a pulse in his wrist.

"Still alive." She listened for his breathing. It was there. Ebony sighed in relief.

"I might have pushed him a bit too much there." She sighed and remembered that he had nothing to eat since his capture and was weak from his night outside and the fight Ocelot had thrown him into.

"I almost…" Ebony thought. "…feel sorry… for you." She ended with a murmur. Ebony recognised the likeness between him and Liquid but the barrier she'd created between them was starting to break down. She wasn't sure if it was hopeless hopefulness that was making it happen or if she was really starting to question what she was doing to him.

A stray memory of Liquid came back and broke her out back into longing for Snake's death. Ebony quickly dropped Snake before she picked him up again to drag him back to the cell.

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

The recording of the transmission had been put on pause, two lines of static cut across the screen from one side to the other. Meryl was leaning forwards in her seat, both elbows on the table, cupping her chin in her hands, staring at the grainy, flickering image of the Arabic woman. The woman was sitting behind a desk and two guerrilla soldiers were on either side of her holding AK-47s.

Meryl's soft brow had furrowed.

"So that's the visitor we had?" She thought to herself and put her hands on her lap, and clenched them into fists. What was that woman doing to Snake? Meryl shuddered; she didn't want to imagine.

"Why'd she take him anyway? There has to be a reason why other than the fact that taking Snake out of the military's reach would make it easier to get what they want." Meryl sighed. Whatever the reason, she was deadly determined to hear Ebony's excuse at any cost.

"What do you have on Ebony?" Meryl asked her father and swivelled her chair round to face him. The projector was switched on again and a clear portrait photograph of Ebony shone up on the white screen. She had struck Meryl as being quite pretty but found it impossible to imagine that she had been the one responsible for capturing Snake or even orchestrating such a massive threat.

"We only know her as Ebony and assume that is her real name." Roy began. "She's Arabic but has no real homeland. She was born into the mercenary business, the daughter to a soldier of fortune who had built up a good-sized army and a private base over the years. When he was killed in combat, it all passed to her. After that, we don't have much information on her activities but like her father before, Ebony rose quickly to become a prominent figure in the mercenary world. She is a big name in her native Middle East and well respected throughout the world. She doesn't specialise in any particular form of combat, she's brilliant in all forms so be careful." The colonel finished.

"And only twenty two hours to stop her within…" Meryl sighed.

"Don't worry. We've got the best people working with you and most of them are familiar faces for Snake that might just help with persuading him." Roy said.

"So how do we get there?" Meryl asked. She had so many questions to ask, she couldn't afford to miss a single scrap of information, and one lost fact could be the end of her life or Dave's. The photo of Ebony switched over to a map. The colonel pulled out a laser pointer and began waving it over the map; a faint chill ran through Meryl when she saw the little red dot whizzing around the room. It reminded her of when she was shot by Sniper Wolf, the little red laser that had pointed the way to her capture… Meryl shivered.

"There's no air defence but no doubt Ebony will have eyes on the sky and on the land from her base and will probably have scouts out in the area…" Roy explained.

"I'm sorry… Dad, could you put that laser pen away?" Meryl cut in. Her father looked at her oddly for a moment and then nodded, understanding why she had asked.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think…" He apologised. "Anyway… there are a few places which you could go by on foot and not be seen if you're careful. The first stage is to fly you and a handful of operatives over. From there it will be a parachute jump to the foot of these mountains in the bottom left hand corner of this map. There is more cover from that side. The other side is just open desert." The colonel poured a glass of water from the canteen on the table and took a sip.

"The soldiers escorting you will consist of one field medic, sniper, a spotter for the sniper, one soldier with communications equipment and one other to provide close fire in case they need it. They are some of the best men we have, experienced in desert missions and parachuting. They are there for support in the insertion and extraction phases. I don't want to risk anybody's life by not having medical help available until you reach here." Roy continued.

"But, I've never done a parachute jump before and there isn't enough time for training." Meryl said nervously.

"You will be falling in tandem with the team leader, you will be attached to their harness, and they will have control over your descent. You'll be all right, Meryl." Campbell smiled at her. Meryl sighed.

"Anything else?" She asked.

"As yet, no. However, I'm sure you'll find out more when you reach the base. First, the objective is to get Snake out of there, persuade him to carry out the mission to determine if Metal Gear is there. If it is…stop it. We'll be in contact with you via Codec so help is just a call away." The lights went up again. "Now, Doctor Naomi Hunter will issue you with uniform, equipment, and nanomachines." Roy added as he got out of his chair.

"I will be in charge of recording mission data and searching for information. Otacon will help me with that and he will be in charge on Metal Gear." Mei Ling smiled sweetly at Meryl.

"I'll see you before you board the plane, just go with Naomi for now." Roy said to Meryl and left the briefing room.

Meryl stood there by her chair for a moment to take in all the information. There was so much to it, all this unnecessary junk they told her before, when all she needed to know was what her enemy was like and where Snake was. She only wanted to get him back alive and for that, Meryl was willing to do anything at all. She wasn't going to let anything or anybody stand between her and Snake.

"You okay?" Hal asked. He stood by the door, his laptop in hand; head tipped over to one side a little.

"I think so. They just make it sound so easy in the briefing. And it's all new to me, having to do a job that Snake would normally do." She looked up and smiled. "But I'm glad that you're here."

Hal grinned and pushed his glasses back up his nose.

"I don't think Snake would have had it any other way." He smiled. His happy look faded. "But now…with Metal Gear I feel I have to do this. It's like it's my responsibility now to help stop it because I made REX and I think that its data is what has spawned this Gear." Hal shook his head with a soft sigh. "It's worrying. Really disturbing that if a mercenary like Ebony has obtained the data and constructed a Metal Gear so quickly I hate to think what has happened if the data has been sold and distributed world-wide."

"You really think that will have happened? I mean if Metal Gear is all over the planet…" Meryl began her eyes wide.

"It's a possibility I cannot rule out. But for now, let's just worry about making sure that Dave gets back safe and sound and deal with this Gear first." Hal stepped over and patted Meryl's shoulder and followed Mei Ling and Roy Campbell. Doctor Naomi was waiting in the corridor for Meryl.

"Come on Meryl." She smiled at her and led her upstairs into a medical room.

Naomi pulled a chair for Meryl to sit on before finding herself a seat in front of Meryl. She folded her hands on her lap and smiled before she began.

"We don't yet have any hi-tech uniform for this kind of mission but we have managed to round up the best that's available to us." She pointed over to an open cubicle where the uniform was hanging up on a clothes rail.

"The uniform there is in desert camouflage perfectly suited to where you will be going. The difference between this and the standard issue normally handed out to regular soldiers is that this one is made from material, which will help regulate your body temperature. It will keep you warm in the cold and cool when it is hot. The tactical vest has plenty of pockets and places to attach equipment and will give you a little protection. Having said that, it won't save your life from heavy damage. The harness for your parachute jump is integrated into it too. Last but not least, your boots, a belt and two holsters for each of your handguns." Naomi turned to a small pack sitting on the table next to her.

"This contains all the equipment you'll need. There's a uniform for Snake in here, rations, water, ammunition for you both… and your weapons. I think one is a tranquilliser gun-the M9 and a SOCOM. Both of them are fitted with suppressors. Then there's a hypodermic needle loaded with nanomachines for you to administer to Snake. They will let us and you contact him via Codec."

Meryl watched Naomi pick up a syringe already filled up. Meryl put her hand up to stop her from getting any closer.

"Just put that down for a minute." Meryl asked firmly.

Naomi slowly put it back down onto the sterile dish.

"I don't know how you got away with it or how you got involved in this mission after what you did, but there's no way I'm going to let you go anywhere near me with that thing." Meryl hissed. Naomi looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Why, what do you mean Meryl?" She asked.

"You know what I'm talking about!" Meryl screamed at her and got out of her seat. "FoxDie!"

"Meryl, it wasn't my choice to give Snake FoxDie. It was planned as part of the mission beforehand and although I wanted to kill him, I realised that I had made a mistake. I had to change FoxDie so that Snake wouldn't die after the mission as it had been scheduled." Naomi pleaded as Meryl got up to head for the door.

"You really think I'm going to believe that?" Meryl laughed. "You made a _huge_ mistake back in Shadow Moses. You maybe didn't kill Snake after the mission but soon, some day you will kill him." Meryl cried. "You knew exactly what you were doing when you gave Snake the nanomachines. You injected a time bomb waiting to go off at any moment." She paused and turned round to look Naomi in the eye.

"Do you have any idea what it feels like knowing that today might just be the day he will die? The one person that I care about after all the therapy I had to stop me from being attracted to men, and you gave him a life sentence!" Meryl yelled aloud. Her eyes could not hold back the tears she'd been keeping hold of.

Naomi couldn't say anything, she knew that Meryl was right, and was starting to wonder if this was how Meryl reacted to her involvement, how Snake would handle it.

"It was the only option I had to change FoxDie onto a wildcard incubation time for Snake, I couldn't do anything else. It could be many years before FoxDie comes up again, I honestly don't know…" Naomi said quietly.

"Hah! Honesty isn't something you're known for!" Meryl spat back.

"But nobody knows for real when they will die, virus or not. Life's just so uncertain, it's impossible to predict what will happen." Naomi wiped her eyes, took a breath, and got up to stand in front of Meryl.

"My only advice to you is to forget about it. It is hard, I know, but just enjoy the time you have with him and don't waste a second of it. You're a lucky woman, Meryl, to have him; he's a lucky man to be with you." Naomi gripped hold of Meryl by the shoulders at arms length. "You've got to go and make sure that he comes back alive. I really mean it."

Meryl smiled a little.

"There is nothing in with those nanomachines to hurt you or Snake. I did enough with FoxDie and I'm not going to do the same this time. Your father too would not be happy if I did anything to harm you." Naomi added firmly.

"I have to take your word for it, I guess." Meryl sighed. She had an idea of what she could do later concerning Naomi's involvement but for now, she would have to take the risk and put trust in her. "If you've lied to me though..." Meryl warned.

"I know…"

Meryl sat down again, and she looked like she had calmed down. She looked up at Doctor Naomi, and bit her lip.

"I've just got one thing that's bothering me about FoxDie." Meryl began. Naomi looked up and straightened her starched lab coat.

"I'm listening Meryl."

"Would I have got it from Snake?" Meryl asked quickly. "Will I be carrying it? It's just I'm afraid he might have passed it onto me…" Meryl fidgeted and felt her cheeks burning up. "…we've been…close." She said quietly. It took Naomi a while for her to work out what Meryl meant, and suddenly she giggled, breaking her usual cool and aloof demeanour.

"Oh no. No, you were not included in the project, so you will not feel any effects from FoxDie. I can't say if you'll be carrying it; it wasn't targeted at you so I doubt you will." Naomi answered and returned to her normal state.

Meryl let her inject the nanomachines into her arm. Meryl was too busy thinking about the million and one things floating around in her head to notice the pinprick.

"There, just give them a minute to circulate in your bloodstream and the Codec will become active soon. I'll let you know when you can try it out to confirm with Mei Ling that it works properly." Naomi smiled as Meryl walked into the cubicle to change.

There was a sandy coloured top similar in style to the one Meryl had worn on Shadow Moses, she pulled it on over her head and then pulled on the pair of trousers they'd given her. Everything fitted properly and had plenty of room for her to move about with ease. The camouflage shirt went on top of her tank top, the last few buttons at the top were left undone, and she rolled the sleeves up to so they were just above her elbows.

"I'm going to be all right with all this on!" Meryl thought as she zipped up the tactical vest. "I hope they work like Naomi said or I'm going to cook out there!"

"Are you almost ready?" Naomi knocked on the cubicle door.

"Ummm…yeah." Meryl called as she tied her laces up in a double knot and opened the door.

"Good. Mei Ling gave me a list of the frequencies for everybody on the mission to save us a little time. 140.96 is for Mei Ling, 140.85 is your father, and I'll be sharing that frequency. 140.80 is Snake's and 140.72 is the team you'll be going with. And yours is 140.15, just remember to tell Snake your frequency." Naomi said as she read off the list on her clipboard.

"Right…" Meryl muttered not paying much attention as she called up Mei Ling.

"Hello Meryl!" She chirped. "You're receiving me well?"

"Yeah, all clear. You're not going to tell me any of your proverbs are you?" Meryl smiled.

"Huh? Oh, right, I guess Snake told you all about them." Mei giggled. "I'll save them especially for him, he'll get so mad. Anyway, the colonel says we'll meet you on the runway before you board the plane. See you there!" Mei sang and signed off.

"Everything is in order?" Naomi asked.

"Yeah, it all works." Meryl sighed.

They both looked up as soldiers entered the room.

"Is Miss Silverburgh ready?" The leader asked standing at ease. Meryl stood up.

"Yes sir." She answered.

"Just follow us to the runway now, it's this way." He smiled and allowed Meryl to walk in front of him, the rest of the soldiers followed on behind.

The wind had picked up by the time the group reached the runway, singing away with the engines on the large air carrier.

The back cargo door was open and inside Meryl could see a couple of soldiers inside dressed in the same uniform as hers.

"Meryl!" The colonel called her as he slowly walked towards her with Mei Ling and Otacon following. The soldiers in the plane walked out down the ramp and lined up and anther three joined them and saluted when Roy Campbell appeared.

"Meryl, are you all set?" Roy asked as he put a hand on her shoulder. She nodded.

"As ready as I can be. I shouldn't waste much more time." She shouted back over the engines.

"Good, good. Now, this is the team who will be parachuting with you." The soldiers smiled at her.

"Lieutenant Armstrong here who escorted you is in command of the team and he'll take you on the sky dive. He's your sniper and one of our best."

"Miss Silverburgh…" The light haired sniper held out his hand and Meryl shook it.

"Umm…just Meryl okay?" She smiled. She wasn't used to being addressed like that and it was a little strange to her.

"Good luck!" Hal called as the group left and he waved to her. Meryl returned his wave with a smile and turned back to the soldiers.

"Well…Meryl…" Armstrong began. "You'll be fine with us; everybody here has parachuted on many occasions so you're in safe hands. We will follow you as far as we can to the target before heading back to take up our post in the mountains. If you need a medic, call us. When the mission is over, call us and we'll arrange for the chopper to come down and pick us up. I've got some things to go over with you about the jump, but we'll deal with that when we're on the plane." He explained calmly.

"Okay. I got it. All ready to go?" Meryl grinned. The soldiers smiled and nodded. It looked like everybody was confident and itching to get on their way.

Armstrong grinned and clapped his hands.

"Okay, come on. Let's go!" He called out and everybody began to board the carrier.

Meryl paused for a second to take a look around before climbing up the ramp into the hold. Hal was waiting in the distance watching and saw her. He waved a few times his arms wide. A last goodbye to wish her luck.

Continued in chapter 5.


	5. Desert Roses Have Thorns Chapter 5

Desert Roses Have Thorns.

Chapter 5.

_With a guest appearance of Johnny Sasaki!_

Meryl could barely hear herself think but the sound of her own heart thudding inside her chest rang clearly in her ears despite the wailing of the carriers engines behind a couple of inches of steel.

Nobody in the hold spoke, they were either sitting down trying to prepare themselves for the mission, checking and re-checking their equipment, or they were napping to kill off the long flight.

Lieutenant Armstrong was awake and he gave Meryl a questioning thumb up from where he was sitting on the opposite side of the hold from Meryl. She nodded and smiled quickly as he got up to sit down next to her.

"We'll be there in about half an hour to the drop-zone. Before we harness up to the 'chute I'll just ask; you okay Meryl?" Armstrong shouted in her ear.

"I'm ready but a complete bag of nerves about the dive. Once I start looking for Snake and I find him, I'll feel better." Meryl called back.

"From what I heard, he's _the _man when it comes to tackling Metal Gear. I mean that's what…three he's taken out now…" Armstrong shook his head in amazement. "He's something special alright so no wonder this Ebony lady captured him."

Meryl squirmed a little, she wondered if Armstrong knew that in a way Snake wasn't a regular soldier like he was. Fine, Snake had put in as many years of training in boot camp and in the ranks of regular soldiers to get where he was now, like any of the men aboard the carrier, but they didn't have the advantage and disadvantage of having fighting genes in place from the start of their lives like he did.

"I was briefed on why you are involved in this mission and I don't blame Snake for having that attitude with these VR trained troops. I was trained the good old-fashioned way and nothing beats it. It won't matter how sophisticated they make these computer simulations, they still won't be able to match field exercises and all the unexpected things that can happen." Armstrong paused and switched to a softer tone. "Do you know him well?"

"I…uh…I was deployed on Shadow Moses island after some soldiers went missing and I was a replacement. I met Snake when he was on his mission and helped him out a little. One of those unexpected things I guess! That's how I came to know him." Meryl answered. She deliberately missed out the point that they were living together, but guessed that somewhere in the briefing the fact had been dropped in.

"And you guys have been living together ever since?" Armstrong asked.

"Yeah…" Meryl shied away from him.

"He-ey, don't worry!" Armstrong grinned. "Personally I think that's great and it doesn't matter what people think. You're happy right, so that's cool. Anyway your life is your business, but if my lady was kidnapped, I'd sure as hell do something about it!"

Armstrong grinned again and held up his left hand to let Meryl see a simple gold wedding ring on his wedding finger.

"That I got right after I came back home from the Gulf war. And now I've got two kids." He beamed proudly.

Meryl smiled; static buzzing over the communications system caught their attention.

"Twenty-five minutes until the drop-zone." The co-pilot said simply over the radio like a stripped down version of an announcement on a commercial flight but without the sugar poured on by the airhostesses.

"Yeah, we'd better start getting ready. I've got all my gear to think about too." Armstrong said as he got up and stretched before tapping a couple of dozing soldiers awake.

"Your harness is in that tactical vest right?" He called over to Meryl.

"Yep."

"Great stuff. Just give me a minute to get ready and then I'll get you attached onto my harness and we can go over the procedure again. Okay?" He smiled and began to load his sniper rifle and the back up M-16 onto his back, securing them tightly and out of the way of his parachute.

Meryl made a last few checks of her own. The SOCOM was strapped to her right thigh with her Beretta M-9 on her left. She wished she had a Desert Eagle instead, it at least guaranteed a kill practically every time, but stealth came first so the SOCOM and its silencer was more practical. She'd stashed some magazines for each gun in the pouches on her vest to help with reloading quickly, some rations and the small canteen of water on her belt. The rest of the equipment was in her backpack.

She looked up from tightening the laces on her boots to see the Lieutenant waiting for her. He waved his hand to ask her over. Now she didn't feel so good anymore.

≈≈≈≈≈≈

Ebony had only seen Metal Gear once before and she had been invited by Ocelot to view the completed prototype. It had still been in production but from the designs she'd seen, Ebony had suggested that it be christened Metal Gear Gryphus after the Latin word for griffin. The head part of it always reminded her of a big bird of prey, like the eagles that she would watch soaring over the mountains, diving for the rodents that they somehow picked out from the sky.

It had amazed her at how quickly the whole thing had been developed but Ocelot had certainly not skimped on hiring people to build it. They had more people than they really required but it had cut the time by half and also while they'd been constructing the necessary buildings to build, maintain and store Gryphus, it was being designed and the simple construction of it had begun from the day that Ebony had returned to base with Ocelot.

From where Ebony stood at the top of the hangar beside Gryphus' head, she watched all the engineers and technicians hovering around. It was so busy that there were blockages in the walkways further below with the number of people who had to make final preparations to the beast.

Ebony chuckled at them; it seemed that for all their intelligence and genius, they found a simple matter like working out how to undo the mess they got into with congested walkways, so taxing.

"Impressive isn't it?"

Ebony heard Ocelot's spurs long before he had said a word to her. She looked up at Gryphus again, felt dwarfed by the sheer scale of the thing standing, sleeping in front of her, the power and fear that it generated with its name alone.

"Yes. Yes it is. It's good to see that my money and resources have been put to good use." She turned around with a smile plastered on her face. Having Gryphus in her base was no comfort to having less control over her soldiers and the base. Her home.

Gryphus was quite similar to REX; the construction was still sturdy and chunky, but overall Gryphus had a much more creature like appearance to it. It was less jagged, a little smoother in its shape, perfectly suited to the desert, but could take anything.

Gryphus had been designed so that no terrain would stop it, any climate could be easily overcome, and few weapons could puncture the armour. It had a wide range of hi-tech weapons onboard and even an air defence system of its own.

"I'm glad to hear it." Ocelot grinned. "What was said in the last transmission?"

"Nothing. They won't give me the money that you demanded, but they seemed disturbed by the fact that Snake is in my hands. The next transmission I'll send will include a demand for recognition of this base as an independent nation and I'll press them again for money. That will be yours." Ebony explained.

"If we get it Ebony. _If _we get it." Ocelot sighed. "They won't give in so easily. They stood strong against Liquid remember and you know what a persuasive person he could be. I have tightened security. What's the news on Snake?"

Ebony laughed. She knew that her news would irritate him somewhat, but could not resist.

"He's out. Cold." She giggled. "He was _begging _for the torture to stop!" Ocelot smiled and began to chortle to himself.

"Now you've surpassed me in that. You will have to teach me how. I never got that kind of reaction from him the last time." He grinned.

Ebony took a look at Gryphus again, an idea began to form in her mind, starting small and felt it grow.

"That could be arranged Ocelot…" She smiled. Ocelot gave her a puzzled look on his old face, but the expression quickly disappeared.

"I'm willing to let you have a round of torture with Snake in exchange for something else. For nostalgia's sake, I know that you would like somebody to practise your hobby on and Snake isn't going to be around for too long…" Ebony bowed her head a touch.

"And what do you want in return for this?" Ocelot asked, his eyes narrowed and his voice took on a hiss that was almost like that of a wild cat, just like his FOX-HOUND name suggested.

"Let me be the one controlling Metal Gear. I want to do that for Liquid since he never got the chance he deserved." Ebony asked quickly, a hand on her chest, just above her heart. The gesture had been unintended but it seemed to add weight to her argument.

Ocelot was about to speak to her again but everybody fell silent at the sound of running on the walkway and a voice calling out. All eyes turned to the source of the echoes as a single soldier charged down towards Ebony and Ocelot.

"Ebony…Ocelot!" He gasped in between breaths. He skidded to a halt in front of them, a couple of engineers cursing and waving their fists at him as they picked up tools and odd bits and pieces he'd knocked over.

"What is it?" They both asked at the same time.

The soldier took a half step back, a little intimidated by the forceful question given to him in a double dose. He stooped over hands on his knees and caught his breath before standing up straight again.

"Scouts…scouts with eyes on the skies…" He panted. "They saw an American carrier plane coming towards us… twenty minutes away from us…"

"Thank you for the news. Go, get rested, and return to your duties. That is alright with you Ocelot?" Ebony said and looked over in his direction.

"Yes, that's acceptable. Dismissed." He blinked once and let the soldier leave who saluted him, smiled at Ebony and jogged away, taking a drink from his canteen and apologised to the engineers he had knocked over.

"Do you think this is them launching some kind of attack?" Ebony asked Ocelot as he began to stride away from Gryphus.

His brow was furrowed and it made him look five years older than he was.

"More than likely they will drop an operative from their Special Forces to find Solid Snake and infiltrate the base." He began to pace around. "I guessed that they'd try something like this, but had Snake still been in Alaska, they would have found him and sent him instead. It is their policy not to negotiate with terrorists first. They'll try to destroy us and leave talks as a last resort."

"So what are you going to do?" Ebony folded her arms. "I don't want to loose too many of my soldiers…"

"I'll up security just a little more. Not too much because if somebody does get inside, I'd like to play around with them a little while. I'll leave that to you however; I want to keep my involvement in this quiet for as long as possible." Ocelot answered after a moment or two.

"But we aren't terrorists either!" Ebony cried.

"To them we are, Ebony. That's what you will be known as from now on. A mercenary terrorist, think what that will do for you if this venture succeeds!" Ocelot tempted. "Anyway… where would they likely approach the base from?"

"Well…" Ebony stopped for a second, running over the landscape in her minds eye. She knew the area around her base for a good few miles in vivid detail; she had grown up here so it was only natural for her to call up an answer to the question. "…the best place is close to the mountains. There's more cover from there, wadis, fallen rocks…" That's the best place but also it's a good spot to post out some snipers to give them a welcoming." She added.

"We don't have anything that could shoot down the plane with the weapons we have and there's no telling if we'll find a use for them later. I'd say set up some scouts and snipers in the area as you said and wait." Ocelot grabbed his coat and pulled it on, pausing to check that all the chambers in his revolver were full, spun them around and reholstered the weapon with a flourish.

"As for your offer, I admit it is very tempting. I shall get back to you on it." He smiled thinly at Ebony over his shoulder, giving her a sideways glance, before turning right around and began to issue orders to soldiers on his radio.

≈≈≈≈≈≈

The rear door of the carrier began to open slowly with the hiss of the hydraulics. Cold air rushed in with a whistle and a howl messing up Meryl's hair. She put up a hand to ward off the light reflecting off the land down far below.

There were no clouds in the sky, only endless blue stretching far away. Down below, dusty brown, yellow, and beige coloured dunes. Thousands of feet below. Only a few steps away. Right under her feet.

"Oh my God!" Meryl thought. "I can't…I can't go!" She felt her body freeze up and go stiff. She had the vision locked in her mind that soon she would be dropping out of the plane like a stone, headed right for the ground.

Lieutenant Armstrong tapped her on the shoulder and asked with a thumbs up if she was okay. Meryl shook her head emphatically. She had completely forgotten that he was right behind her, she was so sucked up into her own world with her fear, and she believed that for a moment she was the only one there.

"Come on Meryl, we've come this far and you've done great. Snake needs you now and the only way to get to him is to take this jump." He said loudly in her ear. "Look…I'll bet when he asks you how you got here and you tell him you did a parachute jump, he'll be pretty darn proud of you." He laughed. Meryl smiled.

"Nothing is going to go wrong with the dive. You can trust me, Meryl. You can do this." Armstrong added.

Meryl tried to relax and took a few deep breaths, adjusted her goggles and shut her eyes.

"Can't back out now. I really want to see Dave again." She thought. Meryl looked out of the door into the sky again.

"I'm ready!" She shouted out finally and felt Armstrong put a firm hand on her shoulder.

"Good girl!" He smiled and slowly they began to waddle closer to the ramp edge, peeping out into the sky as it rushed by. Meryl resisted the temptation to take a tentative half step forward to lean out a little more, consciously noting that the Lieutenant was attached to her.

"Like I said when we went over this, everybody has a secondary chute. If anything goes wrong with the first one, I will have to cut the primary one loose and deploy the secondary chute. It's not the end if we screw up on the first go, but I don't have to tell you that it's better to get it right first shot. I'll have control of the fall; you just have to take care of our landing, which shouldn't be a problem. If you get stuck, I'll tell you what to do, okay. When we're down the cord to release you from my harness quickly is…" Armstrong explained.

"That one." Meryl finished for him pointing to the red cord.

"Right. You can never tell if you'll really need that so don't forget it." He answered as the jump co-ordinator edged to the ramps edge, safely harnessed into the hold.

"Approaching the drop-zone. Get ready to jump." The co-pilot called over the radio. There was a brief gap and a sound as the microphone was passed over.

"Okay, good luck guys!" The pilot chuckled and the radio cut off.

The jump co-ordinator listened to something on his headset and then held out a gloved hand, all his fingers out stretched and began to count down, tucking each finger in with each count.

"Five!" He yelled. "Four!"

"Three…Two…One." Meryl counted aloud to herself and watched as his fist waved down at zero.

"GO!" Lieutenant Armstrong screamed as they both leaped out of the plane.

Meryl gulped back a knot as her heart rocketed up into her throat against gravity. She wanted to scream with fright and joy, but she was too choked up. She opened her eyes again and saw the sky all around her, the wind singing in her ears as they dove down.

Eventually the other four soldiers were level with them all spaced far apart so nobody would hit each other in case there was trouble.

"WOW!" Meryl gushed loudly after finding her voice again. "What. A. View!" She said struggling to get the words out. Her voice sounded wobbly like a quivering jelly, and she was certain that was how her whole body felt too.

"Great isn't it?" Enjoy it while you can before the mission really starts." Armstrong called back. His voice was much clearer than Meryl's but he was more used to the experience and the pressure of the fall was all on Meryl with her being in front of him.

It felt silly for Meryl to imagine it, but she felt like she was flying instead of a body hurtling out of the sky. It was freezing cold but Meryl didn't care. She was so full of adrenaline to notice, but kept in mind that she would have to recover from it quickly before getting on with finding Snake. The feeling was similar to the combat high she remembered Dave getting onto her about on Shadow Moses when they first spoke on the codec. She felt all jittery and scatterbrained, a dangerous state to be in such a mission.

The tan coloured mountains slowly got closer, and Meryl had a look at her watch from where her arms were spread out for the free fall. It was fairly early in the morning she could tell, but was unable to get an exact time.

Meryl kept quiet for the rest of the dive. It was hard to breathe and she was more interested in what her next move would be. All she wanted was to find Snake, see if Metal Gear was there, and destroy it if there was one.

Armstrong looked at the altimeter on his wrist to see how far above the ground they were.

"Not long before we deploy the chute. We will open at the lowest possible altitude so it doesn't take too long to land. We are more vulnerable when the chutes are open. How you doing?" He bellowed to Meryl.

"Better, but my legs have turned to mush!" She laughed.

"You'll feel better back on the land." He chuckled and had another look at the meter.

"Get ready, this is the funny bit." He reached up for the cord and Meryl turned her head round to one side to see the parachute burst out. It rippled in the air for a second and was filled with air. Armstrong looked up to see that the lines were fine and everything was right.

"Great, everything is okay." He sighed. Meryl looked around and could see the other four soldiers dangling from parachutes too. There was a jolt as the parachute resisted against the fall and Meryl felt her insides jump around before they began to drift down to the ground. She watched it get closer with every second, something unusual in the land made her squint her eyes but ignored it; Armstrong was calling to her.

"Start running now Meryl to take us into land." He said. Meryl began to wave her legs in the air.

"Uh-oh! Shit!" Armstrong hissed. "Meryl, get yourself free! NOW!" He shouted.

Meryl looked up and saw soldiers appear out from behind rocks and foxholes, shooting at them. She fumbled for the cord and pulled it free even though she wasn't down on the ground. She fell a few feet and scrambled for cover behind the nearest rock she could find, bullets singing over her head.

"Get down! Everybody get down!" The Lieutenant roared and pulled out his M-16 to cover the remaining soldiers as they descended. "Meryl, me and the guys will cover you. Get the hell out of here when I tell you okay?" He added giving her a quick glance.

"Right…" Meryl panted. Gunfire continued to snap out from all directions, sending up clouds of dust and little sharp chips of rock everywhere. Meryl got down on her stomach and slithered into shelter surrounded by rocks. She watched the other soldiers touch down, gather up their chutes but never bothered to take them off. Her hand went to the SOCOM at her side, hoping that she could make a few silent wins for them.

"Don't be crazy! We'll cover you, we don't need you getting hurt now, or killed!" Armstrong yelled at her.

"Sir enemy snipers are shooting at us from the mountains!" A soldier called.

"Dammit! Brookes, take over for me; I'll pick 'em off. McDonald, cover me. Anderson, help Brookes with covering Meryl. Red, just keep on fighting." Armstrong looked over to Meryl as he set up his sniper rifle, a fifty calibre Barrett Model 82A1.

"See that rough line of rocks over there? Follow it to that wadi. Brookes and our medic, Anderson will provide you with cover fire all the way. When you get there and it's clear, we'll create a diversion. You will have to run like hell's dogs are after you to the base." If we can't, hide out in the wadi until this all blows over." He explained while he set the rifle down and steadied himself to start sniping.

"What about you?" She cried.

"We'll hold them off. Don't worry, but I'd keep that gun of yours handy." Armstrong turned to Brookes and Anderson. "Count in three and start firing in that direction. Make sure nobody gets close to Meryl. Got it?" They both nodded.

"Ready, Meryl?" Brookes called to her.

"Uh-huh." She muttered.

"One, two, three!"

Meryl got up onto her feet and began to run, ducking down out of sight behind rocks and boulders. She just let her legs carry her away to the wadi and stopped to catch her breath, waiting to make another run. She looked down to see that she was shaking all over.

"Incoming grenade!" Armstrong screamed. Meryl looked back to see the tiny thing flying through the sky, right over the lieutenant's head and wedging itself between Brookes and Anderson. She covered her ears and ducked down as it went off. Gunfire still rang out mercilessly punctuated by the loud crack-boom sound of sniper gunfire.

Meryl heard a beeping in her ear. The codec.

"Meryl! We've got casualties, Anderson our medic is alive, but Brookes took most of the blast." Armstrong spoke to her as he reloaded his rifle. "I can't spare anybody to cover you, I've got Red covering for them while Anderson fixes up Brookes, and McDonald is helping me. I'm trying to hold off the snipers for you. All I can say is right now we are far outnumbered. I hate to admit it but we're stuck here…" There was a scream close to Armstrong and it fell silent.

"We've lost Anderson. Meryl, get yourself out of sight…"

"But…" Meryl looked up to see another two grenades fly towards them. She threw herself down into the wadi and covered her ears at the explosion, forgetting that she could still hear it through the codec transmission. She gritted her teeth as she landed down with a hard thud and crawled into a small caved in part of the wadi. Meryl fumbled for the codec to try to call them but all she could hear was static.

"Oh my…" She whispered to herself, trembling at the revelation with tears in her eyes. Seconds later and there was a faint beep in her ear. Meryl put a hand up to answer the call.

"Meryl! What the hell happened there?" Roy Campbell cried. "We tried to contact the team and Doctor Naomi has lost track of their nanomachines signals."

"We…we got ambushed when we landed from the jump. There were snipers in the mountains and soldiers on the ground close to us. The team gave me cover so I could escape." Meryl breathed as she wiped her eyes. "A grenade got thrown into and injured some of them, Anderson the medic was killed…I think everybody is dead!"

"Oh Meryl…" The colonel sighed. "Are you alright?" He asked gently.

"A little banged up when I jumped into this wadi, but I'm okay. Nobody knows where I am…yet. I'm going to hide here until it's clear and think of a way to get inside the base."

Meryl was distracted by the sound of people talking getting closer. "I've got to go, there's somebody getting close." She hissed and ended the transmission.

Meryl tucked herself in the little cave, hugging her knees.

"This isn't a great start…I thought there'd be no problem in coming by plane." Meryl held her head in her hands.

"Always me…why does it always happen to me?"

≈≈≈≈≈≈

Snake opened one eye a little. Very slowly. He didn't move from where he lay face down on the floor. His body was crying at him in pain. His head pounded, his eyes burned at the dull light and the sand he still had in them.

Then Snake discovered his raging thirst. The back of his mouth and throat was thoroughly parched and raw with his screaming.

"Urgh…that was cutting it fine…" He croaked, his usual husky voice was much rougher and the words scraped at his throat.

Snake rolled over onto his back and knocked something over with his hand, the sloshing noise told him that whatever it was the object contained some kind of liquid. He twisted his head round and reached out with a stiff arm to retrieve the bottle, then pushed himself off the floor and slid along to lean up against the wall, cool concrete against his back.

Snake needed no reminder of what had happened; his skin still tingled insanely, around his wrists his skin had blistered and puffed up red where they had been in contact with the metal. A burning smell still lingered in his nostrils. He couldn't place a name to it but he knew that it wasn't the scent of a freshly lit cigarette; something that Snake desperately craved right now.

Ebony had been a little less harsh with her security and instead of immobilising Snake entirely; she'd put one of his wrists in a cuff and chained it to the wall. Snake could barely move anyway in his current state but was grateful for the extra freedom he had been given.

"One thing's clear…she _really_ is serious about killing me." Snake thought as he unscrewed the bottle cap. Something that she and Liquid shared, they didn't go around the matter in circles before getting to the core, they just got on with it and told him straight what they wanted to do.

Snake took a cautious sniff at the water for any trace of poison, conscious of the fact that there were plenty of scentless toxins that Ebony could have used instead.

"Somehow I don't think Ebony would kill me that way anyway." Snake told himself. "If Liquid's attempt is anything to go by, Ebony will want to kill me with her own hands and be right there to enjoy it."

He took a tiny sip of the water. It tasted quite normal, a little warm, but it did the job and at least staved off his thirst for a while. A small sip turned into a mouthful, then into huge gulps as he drained the bottle until there was little over a quarter of it left. He waited for a minute to see if he felt anything. Still living, he didn't have the urge to bring it all back up again…he was fine.

He observed the contents of the container for a moment, the sand grains still irritated his eyes every time he blinked; the desire to claw them out was maddening. Snake tipped his head back, held his eyes open with his free hand, and poured the remainder out into his eyes. Before all the sand had gone, he had run out of water and only got a last few drips splash down onto his face. He sighed in relief, and wiped his face. His vision was a little better now, not perfect, and still a little unclear but he could live with it for the time being.

"You idiot!" He scolded himself. "How do you know that's the only water you'll get?"

Snake pressed his lips together in frustration, he'd left common sense and all basic survival rules behind and used the whole bottle in one go. He threw the bottle with a growl at the opposite wall and slouched down.

"How long can I go on like this?" He sighed. "I've had nothing to keep my energy up since I got here…" The thought reminded him of his last meal, breakfast with Meryl.

"And they might switch strategy. Instead of electrocution Ebony might start something else so I don't get too used to it."

Snake sat upright suddenly.

"What am I saying? I'm just about giving up and I came close to it when I asked Ebony to stop the torture. There has to be something I can do." Snake murmured as he rested his head on his knees.

"_Sure. Even if you do break out of here, where do you go?" _He heard his sub-consciousness telling him. _"You've got to find more clothes, a weapon at least, sneak out of the base and then where? It's probably desert for miles around and who cares that you've gone?"_

"Meryl does…" Snake told himself.

_"But even if she does let anybody know that you're missing, the government and the military won't do anything about you unless they need you. All you are is a pain. An embarrassment. A dark secret but they need you."_

Snake looked up and strained his ears to the noise that had alerted him. He could make out Ebony's Arabic lilt and Revolver Ocelot talking, getting closer to his cell. He would not openly admit it, even to himself, but Snake could feel a part of him dreading their arrival. The metal door was heaved open and the next time Snake looked up, he found Ebony and Ocelot standing on either side of him staring down at him.

"Well, here you are." Ebony smiled and looked in Ocelot's direction. "I am quite sure I want this trade, before you ask again. I won't change my mind."

Ocelot smiled cruelly at Snake and gave him a kick in the side, the spurs on his boot dug in, tearing at Snake's skin.

"Just make sure you don't kill him, you can leave that honour to me." Ebony added with a sigh.

"Don't worry; I'll make sure he comes back to you in more or less one piece." Ocelot replied his voice dragged slyly.

"That's what Liquid told you about that man…the DARPA chief. And what did you do? You killed him…" Ebony warned.

"Liquid again?" Ocelot snarled scornfully at her. "When are you going to accept that he's finished?"

Ebony bit her bottom lip and sighed huffily waving a hand at Snake.

"Just take him and go or I _will_ change my mind. You can have your fun; I'm not coming with you. Just go and try out your new toy, I'm not interested." She growled. Snake looked up with worry on his face as four soldiers entered to escort them.

"New toy? I've got a bad feeling about this…" He growled to himself.

≈≈≈≈≈≈

Meryl looked down at her hands. They had stopped shaking and she had calmed down a little. She'd been sitting in the gorge for what felt like forever. In reality she found it had only been fifteen minutes, but she couldn't count the number of times she'd thought of what she could have done to stop it all from happening.

"What if I'd left the reservations until later? I would have been at home when Ebony turned up. Maybe I should have let Dave come with me. I should have stayed to help feed the huskies…" She shook her head slowly. "This is no use. If I've got anybody to blame it's Ebony!"

Meryl looked out of the wadi and saw sand falling in from the side accompanied with the sound of footsteps.

"Oh!" She drew back into her hiding spot and heard the soldier as he climbed down the side of the wadi to the bottom. She gripped her M-9 tighter and steadied her hands.

Meryl couldn't forget the first time she saw Snake. That was when she had escaped and unlocked the DARPA chief's cell. She had made the mistake of pulling her FAMAS on Snake when he emerged.

"I thought he was Liquid!" Meryl smiled. "And when he told me my hands were shaking, I almost died. He asked me if I could shoot him!" Meryl sighed. It was still something that the two of them joked about. That and when she sneaked up on him in the ladies' room. Since then, Dave had let her practise her shooting and she was a much better shot.

Meryl snapped out of her brief dream as the soldier's boots crunched in the sand and crumbled rock.

"What would Snake do?" She thought quickly as he got closer. Without thinking, she sprang out of her hiding place and pointed her gun at the lone soldier.

"Freeze!" She hissed at him. The soldier leapt up in the air and threw his hands in the air.

"Oh Jeez! Not again!" He whimpered, his voice muffled by the scarf he had wrapped around his face and head. Meryl looked at him for a second. Hadn't she seen this person before?

"Not YOU!" He wailed. "Man, please don't beat me up! I'm never going to live that down. Ever!"

"What?" She looked at the soldier carefully and smiled.

"At least I don't get cold here…" The soldier sighed. "Look please I'll do whatever you want, just don't take my uniform off me! I really don't want to get sunburned and have to put up with that either!"

"Okay, well you can give me that M-16 you got there." Meryl giggled realising who the soldier was. He dropped the rifle and Meryl picked it up.

"Now, one last thing. I want to get in the base and I want to know the best way inside." Meryl re-adjusted her aim. "And don't tell me any lies or I will steal your uniform and make you the laughing stock of the base!" She added.

Johnny rolled his head.

"Ah, alright. All right. There's a tunnel just behind those rocks and it leads right into the base. Nobody watches it anymore." He pointed to a heap of boulders just behind him.

"Can I go now?"

"You sure you won't tell anybody about this?" Meryl smiled.

"No! I mean yes! Um...no. Wait! I won't tell anybody! Honest!" He squealed again.

Meryl tightened her finger on the trigger and Johnny slumped down in a heap, his eyes slowly fell shut as the tranquillisers set in. She didn't have the heart to shoot the poor guy; he always seemed to have horrible luck as it was.

"Better hide him before anybody finds him." Meryl muttered as she holstered her Beretta and carefully manoeuvred the sleeping soldier into the spot where she had been hiding in.

"Right, let's see if he was telling me the truth about this tunnel or I'm going to have to give him a rude awakening."

Meryl kneeled down in front of the rocks and began to move them out of the way. Soon she could see the corner of a metal grid, securely screwed to the rock face. She hurried to clear the boulders away, looking up every now and then to make sure that nobody was watching.

"Phew, is it hot here!" She puffed and wiped her brow. She examined the grille. The spaces in between the strips of metal criss-crossing the entrance were wide enough for her to get a grip and pull back on it.

At first, the grid didn't budge and just sprang back into shape. The second tug stretched the metal. The third try and the screws began to work loose and suddenly let go. Meryl fell back, her hands a little sore with the metal cutting into her fingers but she was free to go inside.

She got down to have a look inside. The tunnel was big enough for her to crawl in. The bottom was covered in sand and bits of debris. Plus it was dark.

Meryl thought for a moment of the beasties that could be lurking in there, but it was the only sure way she had of getting inside the base.

"I'd better tell Dad what's going on." She thought and got up off her belly.

"Meryl, what is it?" Roy Campbell asked a fizz of static crackled for a second but soon cleared up.

"I'm fine I just about got discovered. I held up a soldier and he told me that there was an unwatched tunnel leading into the base. I don't know where it will take me inside the base but it's the only chance I've got left." She whispered. "Any word on the team?"

"We still haven't had any signal from them and Naomi hasn't got anything from their nanomachines yet. With the nanomachines for them, they are set to give a status report every hour, with you and Snake you're under constant surveillance." Mei Ling added.

"In any case Meryl, just trust what that soldier told you for now. Take care and don't make too much noise while you're in the tunnel." The colonel pointed out.

"Okay, expect a call when I come out at the other end." Meryl finished. She sighed and looked at the passages mouth.

"I bet it goes for miles and miles in the dark. I wish I had a torch or night-vision goggles…" She groaned while she gathered the M-16 and the magazines the soldier had dropped. Meryl got down on her stomach again and began to slither along on her stomach.

"Well here goes…" She breathed.

Continued in chapter 6.


	6. Desert Roses Have Thorns Chapter 6

Desert Roses Have Thorns.

Chapter 6.

"Stupid!" Ebony scolded herself. "Stupid, stupid…". 

Once again she'd let Ocelot get the better of her and shown clearly where her flaw lay. He'd worked out that any bad word aimed at Liquid was what set Ebony off.

"But what is his? Why can't I read the bastard?" Ebony had never met such an impenetrable or secretive person before and while the challenge of solving Ocelot was an intriguing one, it also tried her patience to the end. Anytime she asked a question and thought carefully the shutters would come slamming down.

"KGB!" She thought angrily. "Even Liquid knew little of his second in command…" 

Ebony threw open the door to her quarters and slammed it shut behind her with a deep sigh and hung her head, her long hair fell like a dark glossy curtain around her face.

"How does he expect me to forget Liquid so easily?" Ebony seethed quietly as the memories began to seep out of the corners of her mind.

"How can I possibly ignore all the years we spent together? Six years working hard and living with him on this base as some of the greatest mercenaries in the Middle East. It was a long time and it's too important…" Ebony pushed her hair out of her face and clasped the gold dog tag in her hand, rolling back into the dream she'd had that morning. Those memories were too precious to abandon.

The nineteen years of Ebony's life had been nothing but war and killing. It was all that she knew. The justification for their fight was to found a nation where anybody who had no real homeland could settle. Her father reminded her every night before he put her blanket over her to sleep why they fought. He'd been the kindest man she'd ever known even although killing was what kept them both alive. Ebony had never known her mother, she had lost her mother when she was barely a few months old but Ebony was always told by her father and the other soldiers that she looked like her.

After Ebony had lost all of her family, Liquid came in to her life. He never filled the space left by the death of Ebony's father but at least drew attention away from it and became another important figure to her. The fighting still went on, it would always be there in her life, but when Liquid came, it faded into the backdrop and no longer was the everything that dictated the rest of her life.

It was hard for Ebony to describe what it was about him that had drawn her to him. His companionship was the obvious reason she could think of, then the endless strength that he seemed to hold. He'd just appeared out of the desert that day her world had begun to fall apart with her father's death and something told Ebony that she had to ally with him. Liquid had asked nothing from her but already had gained her admiration.

Now she'd nothing to do anymore. Ocelot had command of the base and her soldiers, she had nobody to lead now. She didn't want to spend all day inflicting pain on Snake, it did get repetitive after a while. All Ebony could do was wander around aimlessly the base, take herself to the firing range or into the mountains and dunes to see the days she used to have with Liquid again.

Even when she could see them again, they weren't always good memories. Ebony remembered how frightening he was in combat. Without a weapon in his hands and an enemy in front of him, Liquid was quite normal, but in battle Ebony felt like it was as if some devil had taken over her friend. Now she understood how it was. The devil was in his genes.

Out of battle, he did show something else other than blood lust. He was actively involved in recruiting and training new soldiers, Ebony had made that his job when he first joined her. After the first batch of new men had been trained, they choose the best ones to train the soldiers who would arrive later on, while Liquid supervised them. Advice and encouragement was not too far when he was around and he brought in a fresh confidence to the troops.

But when it came to Ebony, she still found it hard to say exactly what she felt about him. Liquid was always a hero to her, a guardian. Even then she knew that was only half-true. Ebony struggled to admit to herself that it was a little more. Their first year together was when he helped to turn the base around after the loss of their old leader and they worked to gain each other's trust. In that first year, Ebony always worried that he'd would leave and return to be her enemy. She had no idea if he had any fears like that, he always faced up to everything that came into his path and conquer it. Of course the only thing that he'd failed to defeat was his heritage.

Ebony found out about Liquid's twin two years into their partnership and until she found Liquid's body on Shadow Moses, Ebony had no idea of the suffering that her friend was feeling. Over the years their friendship always grew much closer, but something always stopped it from going onto something else. He always seemed to be more interested in everything else but Ebony after FOX-HOUND asked him to join their ranks. He became more and more preoccupied with it. Obsessed.

Liquid began to look for ways to make himself "better"; he spent more and more time training on his own for hours at a time. If Ebony went to see how he was, he would become angry and force her to leave. Ebony could never tell what he would do when he got like that. It frightened her. Then she found what it was like to be on the end his fury. 

Yet, still she loved him.

__

Ebony screamed out, both hands clutching her stomach as she took a couple of giddy steps. Liquid's face had washed out white, utterly petrified. The handgun slipped out of his fingers.

"Why…why'd you…do it?" Ebony gulped as her voice trailed away and took a tumble. Liquid darted over and caught her as she fell. He scooped her up in his arms and began to tear away down the firing range. He didn't stop to answer any questions from the patrolling guards on his way.

Ebony held onto him feebly and looked up as he spoke to himself.

"What have I done…what have I done!?" He muttered over and over again to himself as a couple of clear, sparkling drops fell down from his eyes. Ebony closed her eyelids and squeezed his arm just to let him know she was still alright. The next thing she noticed was being transferred from Liquid's arms and onto a soft bed. After that Ebony couldn't feel anything at all.

She woke up slowly, bit by bit, not quite sure what to expect. She turned her head to one side at the bright light above her.

"Was I caught out in the desert? Is that the sun I see?" She thought briefly, thinking that she'd fallen to exposure. 

Ebony turned her head to see a figure by her side, their head bowed over and their face hidden. They looked up at her not sure whether to laugh, cry or just blankly stare.

"Oh…it was you who was shouting earlier…" Ebony breathed with a faint smile. She turned her gaze away back to the white ceiling, noticed the cracks in the paint spanning outwards in all directions then looked on beyond them through the ceiling. Then she watched the bag of intravenous fluid as it's clear contents slowly dripped into the tube and into her bloodstream. 

"Why…" She looked back at him again as her eyes narrowed a little, the stare softened by the long eyelashes that rimmed them. "Why do you think…you're weak?" She asked Liquid slowly.

"You could never understand. Nobody can help me now." Liquid sighed and bowed his head again, covering up his face with his hands. Ebony pushed one away from his face and could see that he had not slept. His eyes had that glazed over look to them and were not helped by the dark shadows under his eyes.

"Try me." She coughed painfully as he took hold of her hand with an unusual delicacy that Ebony had never felt him use before, and lay it back down by her side. She felt so confused; one half told her that she should hate him for shooting her like that, but instead she still felt nothing but fondness for him. 

"James…if you were truly weak you would have died a long time ago." She added softly. Ebony hadn't used his real name much before but now was maybe the time to start.

"I know but I'm not strong enough to fight them." He answered firmly.

"WHO?" Ebony shouted. She tried to sit up but the wound in her abdomen forced her to stop. Liquid softly put his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her back down onto her back again.

"Rest…" He whispered from where he leaned over her.

"You still haven't answered my question." Ebony frowned at him. James looked away, avoiding her stare.

"Everything and everyone." He answered simply before sitting back up.

"You're one of the best hired guns in the entire world. You can beat anybody you want!" Ebony smiled.

"But not him." Liquid sighed.

Ebony groaned and shook her head. There was no way she'd be able to talk him out of it; once he got something into his head there was little chance of making him change it, especially if he really believed it. Ebony desperately wanted to know what it was that was troubling him. Without that knowledge she'd have no way of helping him.

"Do you…" Liquid paused. "Do you forgive me?" He asked quietly.

"Yes." Ebony answered simply.

"I didn't think what I was doing." He continued.

"If you would just let me know what it is, I might be able to help you." Ebony smiled at him. "I owe it to you."

"Ebony…" Liquid took her hand, careful of the drip in the back of her hand that was linked to the bag of fluid hanging above her bed. "…I really do appreciate your concern but for once this is something I must do on my own."

"But why can't you tell me!?" Ebony said her voice getting higher. "I thought that we trusted each other…"

"You would never believe me if I told you the truth."

"Maybe he was right. It was hard enough to accept the truth when I found his body." Ebony told herself. It had seemed so far fetched that he'd been a soldier made to measure with his only purpose being only to kill and destroy the enemy and at first it almost nullified all of Ebony's successful missions with him. 

She knew that he would have not wanted her pity, but if he'd just given her a hint it would have made all the difference. He might have been alive now. But he'd let it take over and control him, he'd become so distant just to wipe out every trace of his genetic heritage, following in his father's and his brother's footsteps to find his own path away from them.

As it was however, Ebony still couldn't forget what she'd vowed to do for him despite what had happened. She'd obtained permission to use Gryphus that was just one step to her goal. There were still a few things to take care of…

≈≈≈≈≈≈

Ocelot danced about from one foot to the other impatiently as Ayisha pushed intravenous needles into Snake's forearms. Snake grit his teeth each time; it was uncomfortable enough with being restrained so tightly. His hands had balled themselves into fists and consequently the muscles in his arms had tensed up making it even harder for Ayisha to finish.

"What's taking so long?" Ocelot growled at her. She rolled her eyes and gave Snake a quick glance and mouthed something to him.

"Sorry…" She said silently. Snake frowned at her and looked over her shoulder at Ocelot. The sly bastard had a prosthetic hand fixed to the stump that Grey Fox had left him with on Shadow Moses Island. Ayisha did her best to make it easier for Snake, she clearly didn't share in Ocelot's enthusiasm for inflicting pain on others but right now in his presence she could do nothing but watch unwillingly.

When she was finished she returned to stand with Ocelot behind a control panel with three narrow tubes coiling their way out from underneath it, across the floor and to where Snake was, lying back at an angle so they could see each other. The tubes filled up slowly so they formed a multi-coloured web on the white tiles.

"It's all set then?" Ocelot asked Ayisha quietly. She nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry for taking so long but it had to be done properly." She muttered. Ocelot chuckled as he scanned his eyes over the controls now dancing about in anticipation, pressing a few buttons with a soft beep confirming their entry. 

"Let's see…" Ocelot mumbled to himself and pressed a button. A split second later and there was a sharp gasp from Snake and his face crumpled up at the burning sensation in his veins. At first it was restricted to his right arm but soon the drug spread through his whole body. Snake kept his mouth clamped shut, it wasn't too bad yet but caused him enough discomfort to satisfy Ocelot for now.

"Like that?" Ocelot grinned at him. Snake remained silent. There was a steady blip from a heart monitor in front of Ocelot and it filled up the quiet where Snake's answer should have been.

"Not talking? That's no way to treat an old friend…" Ocelot sighed as he tapped something out on the panel. 

Something cold ran into Snake's other arm, a pale pink liquid. It hit Snake quickly, going right to his head like he'd had a drink and downed it far too quickly. He shook his head trying to shake off the clouds in his head and blinked a few times. They still hung around and Snake found it difficult to keep himself focused away from the warm drowsy and confused feeling in his mind. There was something else flooding into his right arm but didn't carry the fiery sensation like the red liquid. Instead it cut through the fog in Snake's head and began to root about in his memory, pulling out bits and pieces and sticking them together in the front of his mind. While Snake's body was spiked with pain, his head was locked up in a stored moment of bliss…a chilly winter's night and Meryl was there somewhere…

"…Wake up Dave…this is no time to start thinking about that!" Snake scolded himself and made a conscious effort to get himself back into reality.

"How do you feel now Snake?" Ocelot smirked at him. 

"Like my head is a kids balloon filled with helium and about to float off into the sky…" Snake thought to himself. He smiled. "There's a nice idea…Just float away and nobody can catch me…" He laughed out loud to himself and was soon cut short. Snake came back down to terra firma with another shock to his body. The red liquid was flowing again, Snake ground his teeth together as it scorched its way in his blood and in every fibre in his body. He struggled but found his arms seizing up in protest at the alien substance that invaded them, the restraints had automatically tightened down on him. Every time Snake moved it forced his blood to circulate, spreading the drug through him more quickly before it thinned out too much. The drunken feeling returned and Snake soon found his legs giving up. Memories flooded out again and mixed up like they'd been put in a blender.

__

"Keep that rifle clean soldier! I expect much better next time we have inspection David. Or maybe you enjoy doing push-ups in the mud?"

"You'd kill your own brother?"

"Urrgh…fight it…" Snake heard himself utter.

__

"Born on the battle field…raised on the battle field."

"Hal…I'm sorry…" Snake cried. 

"Quite revealing stuff this." Ocelot chuckled over the top of the mess. Snake was distracted by a memory of Meryl. He could almost see her standing to the side of him, waving to call him over, but quickly snapped himself out of it.

"What you mean Ocelot?" Snake asked, his words came out thick and sludgy. He hadn't noticed but he'd been reciting his thoughts out loud for everybody to hear.

"Hush now." Ocelot laughed hitting a few more buttons. Ayisha's eyes widened.

"That's too much!" She warned looking up at Ocelot. "You'll kill him if you do that!" Ocelot glared at her and she promptly fell silent as he drew his revolver and confirmed his settings.

"I want a report on his condition later. You stay right there and don't move an inch before I leave!" Ocelot growled at her. He glanced over at Snake who was starting to feel the effects of the latest rush, everything being pushed into him at once. Ocelot left by a door just out of Snake's view. Ayisha had covered her ears with Snake's howls, as his body seemed to burn from the inside. Ayisha was just a white splodge with a few other coloured blobs sticking out in Snake's rheumy eyes. He blinked his eyes shut for a moment and then found her standing by his side.

"Sssh…sssh!" She hushed Snake. "Calm down please." She begged him and began to quickly remove the needles in his arms, darting back to shut down the machine. Ayisha stood by his side waiting and placed her hands together like she was in prayer up to her mouth. There was little she could do but wait for him to recover.

Snake slowly turned his head to his side and looked up at her. His eyes still ran, his face was glowing red, beads of sweat stood out on his skin. Ayisha gently wiped his brow and drew up a stool.

"I know I work on this base but you have to understand that I don't agree with that man and what he does to amuse himself." She managed to smile a little and brushed a few loose strands of hair that had fallen out of place behind her ears. "I don't always agree with Ebony too…"

Ayisha got up and pushed a stainless steel trolley over. The various pieces of equipment rattled as it bounced over the grooves in between the tiles. She sat back down and picked up the bottles examining their labels, searching for the one she wanted.

"I don't have anything that will counter what Ocelot put into you. The drugs he used are specifically for torture and interrogation so I doubt that they bothered to come up with any antidotes. Even if there were, he would never let me have them. All I can do is help make you feel a little better." She whispered softly, placing a hand firmly against Snake's forehead and poured water into his eyes. Then she carefully dabbed his face dry, avoiding the slash on his cheek that Ebony had given him. Snake blinked and found that all the sand had been cleared and his eyes no longer stung. Ayisha took out a ration pack from her white coat pocket and broke off small pieces for Snake to chew on.

"Why are you doing this?" Snake murmured with a cough and swallowed the last piece of ration down with a gulp. His stomach still growled and gurgled at him, Ayisha couldn't help but laugh before her face returned to the sorrowful expression that she always seemed to carry with her.

"I don't like Ocelot." She sighed and clasped her hands on her lap. "Ebony was foolish to join with him. He means trouble and I'm frightened that he'll be the end of her. My job is to heal, but ever since he came here I've had no end to the soldiers that come into my infirmary needing my help. He doesn't care for this place or the people who call it their home. I don't like to stand and let him get away with it. It's not my idea of fun to see anybody take punishment for one's sick pleasures."

"Even if I'm an enemy?" Snake asked.

"It may sound crazy to you, but I think you might be able to save Ebony." Ayisha whispered again.

"What?!" Snake wakened up. "Save her? She's taken me prisoner and I have every intention of fighting back. Saving her is the last thing I'm going to do. It's her problem that she got involved with Ocelot!" 

Ayisha shook her head slowly.

"I can't tell you much right now, Ocelot is expecting you to be back in your cell shortly. If I get the chance I'll tell you more…" She reached over to the trolley and picked up a syringe, filling it up, tapping the bubbles to the surface and pushed out any trapped air.

"Hey…Hey!" Snake panicked. "What's that for?!"

"I can't have you on the way to getting over those drugs when the guards come, can I? Ocelot will ask for their report on you too along with my medical opinion. This will just make it more convincing…"Ayisha explained as she pushed the needle in close to where the other marks were on his arms. Snake felt the drifting sensation come back strong again and tried to stay awake. He was thankful that there was no pain and let himself go. At least if he slept he wouldn't remember all the things that he'd rather forget, like the nameless faces of the people he'd taken lives from. 

Snake never liked being knocked out, but right now it seemed to be the lesser of the two evils.

≈≈≈≈≈≈

Meryl had no idea of how long she'd been crawling in the tunnel. It was completely dark and by the smell, it was dusty and hadn't been used for a while. It was pleasantly cool too, being buried under the ground out of the sun. The only good thing about it being so dark was that Meryl couldn't see what else was creeping in the passage with her. She didn't have to see what creature it was that had slithered up her leg or what that thing was that bumped into her face.

It was very slow going. There were a few places where the metal had fallen in leaving only a small gap for her to squeeze through and there had been frightening moments where she almost got stuck. Meryl really hated the idea of being trapped underground and not being able to get out, it was to her a horrible way to die.

Meryl inwardly sighed when she felt the tunnel starting to gradually wind upwards in a slope, it meant that she was starting to go back to the surface.

"What was that?" She whispered to herself. She heard a beeping noise in her ear and at first assumed it was her ears still ringing from the gun battle.

"The codec!" She gasped and quickly answered it.

"Meryl?" A male voice whispered. It took a little time for Meryl to register who it was calling.

"Lieutenant!?" She jumped up and almost banged her head on the ceiling of the duct. "You're alright! I thought that…"

"I'm okay. Just. But never mind about me. Are you safe?" He asked.

"I'm okay. I'm inside a small tunnel that an old friend told me about when I hid out in a wadi. He's enjoying a nap out of the sun…" Meryl chuckled remembering the hapless soldier she'd met on Shadow Moses.

"Old friend? Never mind…" Armstrong muttered. "Good. Just be careful when you come back up…" The signal crackled with static. "My nanomachines are playing up for some reason, they're probably too busy helping me patch up to keep the transmission going."

"What about the others?" Meryl asked hopefully.

"All dead. There was nothing I could do, the only way I managed to escape was play dead until everybody left and got myself into hiding. I'm okay for now. I set up a foxhole for myself, keeping eyes on the base but I won't shoot unless I have to. I'll call the colonel and let him know about my status." Armstrong explained.

"You'd better, they said that Naomi had lost track of your nanomachines." Meryl added.

"Is that right? Okay. For now, good luck and be careful."

"Right…" Meryl sighed and wiped away a tear and smudged dirt onto her face. "You too."

"Y'know before I finish, it makes me wonder why that tunnel goes into a wadi at all. My best guess is that it was used for base defences. It would save a lot of time and a few lives by carrying supplies underground rather than over it to any troops that would be out this way. You might just strike lucky and find some stuff when you come up like a cache of weapons and equipment that everybody's forgotten about." Armstrong mused. 

"I'd better go now. I'll call you if I need you." Meryl smiled and shut down the codec continuing on into the darkness.

A few minutes after Armstrong had called her, Meryl could feel the air start to get warmer and smell a bit fresher. A sign that she was near the end. It grew lighter in the passage and Meryl found herself on level ground. Eventually she reached the end and found that there was a shaft that she could stand up in. There was a ladder fixed to one wall and it led to a trapdoor up above about two meters above her head. Meryl climbed up a few rungs so that she could reach up and touch the hatch with her hand. She listened but could hear nothing from above and slowly undid the catch. Then Meryl tried to push the door upwards. 

The door was quite heavy and it was made all the more difficult by trying not to fall down. Meryl let the door back down gently.

"It's no good I need both hands." She sighed to herself and hooked her feet in the rungs so that she was able to free both her arms. She began to push up again. She felt it move and dust fell in on top of her. Meryl held in a sneeze and struggled on. She was just about there…

"WAAAAHH!!" She screamed out and found herself falling backwards. She caught one of her feet in the ladder and then fell back down to the ground. The trap door slammed shut and she jumped at the noise. She waited, her heart pounded at the fright, praying that nobody had heard the commotion. Her ankle throbbed a little but it was alright when she got up onto her feet again and climbed right up to the top of the ladder. Meryl took a deep breath and pushed the door again. A last shove and it flung open suddenly and Meryl almost lost her balance again but quickly caught hold of the ladder with one hand, shielding of the dust and cobwebs with her other arm. 

She peeped up cautiously to see that the passage went up into a dim room, quite small with several boxes stacked up and covered in dirty brown tarpaulins and sand. It definitely looked as if nobody had used the room for a while and like the tunnel, it was in some disrepair. Meryl scrambled up the ladder and had a quick look in the boxes. There was some ammunition that would fit her USP, binoculars, some machine guns but they were of no use to her right now. She already had the M-16 Johnny had surrendered, but if Snake needed anything and it wasn't too much trouble, they could always come back to kit him out. Besides that, there was nothing left that was of great importance.

"Anyway…if Metal Gear is really here, Ebony is bound to have enough money to equip her soldiers with far better equipment." Meryl thought to herself as she tiptoed towards the door.

She hung on for a second and pressed her ear against it. It was fairly quiet; quieter than she'd expected. Meryl had imagined the whole base swarming with mercenary soldiers. 

"Maybe Mei Ling can tell me a little more about the base before I head out…" Meryl muttered and hid behind a box and sat down reaching up to put out her call. 

"Hello Meryl, what's up?" Mei Ling answered cheerfully. Meryl could never understand how she managed to sound so happy even when things got tough, she always had something encouraging to say. What impressed Meryl even more however was that Mei Ling had the incredible ability to put up with Snake. It was something that Meryl hadn't quite got the hang of yet after living with him for eight months.

"Listen do you have anything on this base before I head out? Y'know satellite photographs, recon stuff, maps…anything that would be useful to me. It would save me a lot of time if I had an idea of where to start searching." Meryl asked.

"No problem. Hold on a sec and I'll find what we've got." Meryl listened while Mei tapped away on the keyboard, and heard her father's voice in the background.

"What I can tell you now is that the base is almost as big as Shadow Moses island so you've got a lot of land to cover, so it was a good idea to call me. Where are you at the moment?" Mei announced after her typing had ceased.

"I don't know…I'm inside the base I think. I got in by an underground tunnel and it's led me to a small storage building." Meryl replied taking a look around where she was crouched down.

"Oh…" Mei sighed. "The colonel said you should maybe look for places that look like they have lots of activity close to them. Large buildings where there's a higher security presence might mean that they've got something important to guard…or somebody they don't want getting out." Mei Ling added.

"Right." Meryl nodded.

"And Meryl…I know this might not be a good time to mention this but Hal has been looking over these satellite photos with me before you called, and we both agree that there's a high probability of a Metal Gear being inside the base with you." Mei added solemnly.

"How? If you can't see inside the buildings how can you be so sure?" Meryl sighed and put a hand on her forehead.

"Well, there's evidence of some construction work on the base in one particular area. An extension had been added to the main part of the base and according to our other sources those buildings hadn't been there until eight months ago." Mei answered.

"What were these 'other sources?' I know it's probably none of my business where you dug that up but…" Meryl folded her arms.

"When we got the transmission I traced it back to the base you're in right now, but there were one or two mercenaries who were happy to part with the information for a reward. They'd been in the area and don't really like Ebony… But getting back to the point, Doctor Emmerich wants to talk to you."

There was a little shuffling and then Hal was on.

"Meryl?" He asked softly.

"Yeah, I'm here." Meryl answered.

"Good. Sorry that you won't be able to see this, but on the satellite photos I've got here, we've got several buildings clustered together at one end of the base, boxed in from the rest by heavy defences. There's even a reinforced bunker. But everything here looks to be just the right size to produce and hold a Metal Gear." Hal explained calmly.

"Okay but besides how big the facility is, how are you so sure Metal Gear is here?" Meryl asked again.

"First of all I don't think the threat Ebony issued us with in her message was an empty one. She kidnapped Snake, she knows that having him held hostage will make things tough for us. Secondly there was something in this guarded section of the base that got my attention."

Meryl perked up a little.

"What was it?" She quizzed him.

"There's a large number of solar panels, a good sized power station and even a storage facility for the excess. It's too much to simply run a base for lighting, some machinery and day to day use. Constructing and running a Metal Gear swallows up a large quantity of energy and when it comes to charging Metal Gear up it pays to have some energy stored away. It saves you from having to tap into the supply for the rest of the base and plunge it into a full blackout to charge it up."

"Of course right out here in the desert there'd be no shortage of energy with the sun." Meryl muttered to herself.

"Exactly. Not only that it's far safer and cheaper. They don't have to pay for it and transport firms would slap on an extra fee to cover the risk involved. Anybody who isn't in league with Ebony would probably attack the fuel deliveries. Plus this lets Ebony keep a much lower profile too. Adding it all up, it looks quite probable we've got a Gear on our hands." Hal finally stated.

Meryl slouched down with a sigh. She knew that this would make things even more difficult when the time came to tell Dave.

"But…how did they get the data in the first place?" Meryl piped up after a few moments of silence.

"That's what I'm trying to work out myself. There are even a couple of other countries with their own Metal Gear program. They're inferior clones of REX but still these cannot be ignored. I know that Snake obtained an optical disc from President Baker which contained all of the data and specifications for REX, but how that got from him to Ebony and these other countries is still a mystery to me." Otacon sighed.

"I don't think Snake told me either." Meryl added. 

"One Gear is enough as it is…" 

"C'mon it wasn't your fault. You were lied to about what your designs were being used for." Meryl comforted Hal. She had met up with him after his run in with Snake and the truth about his project but Meryl couldn't imagine what it was like. Poor Hal who had to find that everything that he'd been working on, pouring hours of his life, hopes and dreams into had the potential to be used for death and destruction on a scale that hadn't been seen before. 

"Do you think Snake will take on the mission?" He asked hopefully after a minute.

"We have to do something. Snake can't turn around and say no." Meryl replied.

"It would put my mind at rest for a little knowing that just one Gear is out of action. But…I'll never be able to rest completely until they are all wiped out and the data destroyed forever." Otacon whispered.

"If we find a Gear here Hal, we'll make sure it gets destroyed. For you."

There was a little laugh.

"Thanks Meryl." Hal said a little more cheerful.

"I should go now. The sooner I find Dave the quicker we can find Metal Gear."

"Good luck." Hal answered warmly and signed off.

Meryl closed her eyes for a second, not sure if this was really happening or just another of those bizarre dreams she was in. She looked up again. She really was in Snake's place right now and she almost felt like she shouldn't have been there.

"But if not me then who else?" She thought. "Let's just hope that this doesn't get any worse." 

Continued in chapter 7 coming soon…!


	7. Desert Roses Have Thorns Chapter 7

Desert Rose Have Thorns.

Chapter 7.

"Ebony!" A Russian accent wailed out across the hangar as she stepped out of an elevator. She turned around to see the technician running along carrying a notepad and tripping over his own feet. Ebony sighed and carried on striding across the hangar for the next elevator. The technician managed to catch up with her.

"Wait, wait, wait!" the short little man gasped. "Ocelot asked that we configure Gryphus for your use. Since you're here would it be any trouble to do that now?" He fumbled with a pen in his pocket. "Please?"

"Actually I was here to start the VR training." Ebony sighed putting a hand on her hip and glared down at the technician. 

"Oh good, that's good. The sooner the better." He burbled happily and waited as Ebony summoned the lift. 

"All we need from you is a retinal scan and a palm scan to activate Metal Gear and initiate the nuclear launch procedure. We had though of including a voice recognition system but…" He added as he flicked through his notes. Ocelot had scrimped on using laptops for the workers and saved them for the head engineers and designers. By the stack of papers the short and rounded Russian was battling to keep in his arms, he was not particularly important.

"Thank you, but that's all I need to know." Ebony silenced him as the lift doors slid apart. The engineer found a spot to put his work down with a sigh of relief then searched about in the control room, buzzing around asking his colleagues questions. He disappeared into another room and returned with a couple of pieces of unusual equipment. 

"If you would just sit here for a moment…" He smiled and drew up a chair for Ebony. She sat down and waited for him as he linked the equipment into the control panels and booted up the software. She scanned her eyes around the control room. On one wall, there was a map of the world glowing and showed routes of something Ebony didn't know. The room was rammed to the ceiling with computers and there was a constant flow of engineers, programmers and technicians coming and going.

"Now this won't take long if we get it right first time…" The engineer picked up a device and coaxed Ebony to look his way.

"There…just look into that piece and don't blink. This is for the retina scans."

Ebony did as she was instructed and a few seconds later, the device was moved away from her eyes.

"You'll get used to it after a couple of times." He smiled as Ebony rubbed her eyes. "Now just put your right hand on this. This your palm scan. When you go in for VR training you'll need to give palm and retina scans while we keep record of your progress in the training and it gets you used to how it all works." He held out a flat piece of equipment something like a flatbed scanner and pressed a button once Ebony had her hand outstretched on the panel.

"Perfect! I'll make sure this is fed into the system. Wait here please while I talk to the programmers of the VR training." The technician waddled out of the room.

Ebony sat in the wheeled chair examining the computers and glowing screens. She was quite familiar with modern technology but the sight of all the computers and the sheer number of people working baffled her somewhat. It was a far cry from the kind of fighting that she was used to. Here the real minds behind the fighting weren't soldiers out on the field and in the line of fire. Instead, they were highly educated minds safely sheltered away from the battle that perhaps had never held a gun or killed a person in their lives. Still Ebony felt that people like her would have their place in the world, at least if she finished what she started.

"Funny, didn't Liquid say something like that once before? That he wanted to make sure that fighting would never end and that there'd always be a need for us." Ebony wondered.

"Excellent!" The small rotund Russian appeared once more. "Your data is in the system and ready to let you have complete access Gryphus and the VR training." He beamed.

"Complete access…" Ebony murmured and allowed herself a slight smile.

"Of course, it was what Ocelot ordered. All that you need to do now is complete your training. The booth is an exact replica of Gryphus' interior and layout. The training will take you through the basics of piloting it and more advanced manoeuvres, plus weapons systems, everything is covered and I would think that for somebody of your profession it shouldn't be too difficult to take in. Anyway, follow me next door please." He gestured to the doorway he was stood in. A large computer was in front of the booth with a programmer loading up files and programs for the training.

"He's letting me have total, unbarred access to Metal Gear?" Ebony reminded herself as she approached the booth for VR training and sat down in the open cockpit. She took a good look at the controls. So many dials, buttons and screens it all at first seemed more daunting than she had expected but Ebony consoled herself with the reminder that this would just be a small step to reaching her goal. There would be bigger obstacles to take on later.

"Are you ready to begin?" The programmer asked her from his chair. "Just follow the instructions that appear on screen. You can repeat the exercises as many times as you need and at anytime you need to."

"I'm ready." Ebony called back and closed the door on the booth, dipping it into darkness. The screens lit up and gave a peculiar glow to the interior, which lit it up enough for her to see clearly where everything was. Her time was getting closer.

≈≈≈≈≈≈

Meryl got up from behind the crate she'd crouched behind while she was on the Codec and softly made her way over towards the only door in the little storehouse. She pressed her ear up to the door listening out for any noise that could have been from the soldiers. Satisfied that she'd heard nothing, she pulled it back a little and peeped out to find her view was limited and opened the door fully. Hot dry air blew in with sand. Meryl put up one hand to her eyes while it calmed and she could see again. Right in front a few feet away was a concrete wall that ran away to her right to another wall. Left was a corroded chain-link fence. Beyond it was a small flat roofed building and further north a two-storey building surrounded by walls trimmed with coils of razor wire. There was nobody in sight from where she stood, but all around in the distance the sound of soldiers and vehicles could be heard. Between Meryl and the larger of the two buildings was just open sand and paved walkways for about three hundred meters giving anybody nearby a clear view. There were some abandoned metal drums left at the side of some of the paths but for the most of it, Meryl guessed that she'd have to stay close to the buildings and walls than risk running in the open.

"Let's take a look at that building." She muttered to herself and took the caps from off the binoculars. Meryl put them to her eyes and focused the lenses until the view of the two-storied building came into view.

"The moan door will be guarded for sure so I won't go near it unless I absolutely have to. That wall is going to be a pain too, but it looks like this building will be worth checking out." She lowered the binoculars and had a look at the building with her own eyes.

"Wait a second…" Meryl peered through them once more. "An open window up there on the top floor. Maybe I could reach it from the top of the wall?" 

She pocketed the binoculars and closed the door behind her, taking a quick look round before following the wall up to the fence. There was a gate on the fence but it was held shut with a padlock and Meryl didn't think she had the time to try and break it, so scrambled up quickly and touched down softly on the other side. Still crouching down, she drew her M9 and began to head over quickly to the first small building, scuffing her feet to rub out her footprints. Finally at the building, Meryl paused for a few seconds before following the wall to its end and she could peep round and see the one she was heading for. The wall she would have to climb over suddenly looked much taller than she had first thought but for now she could see no other way without having to go into the open and walk around looking for another route. Taking one last look to see if it was all clear, Meryl darted out and made a run for the wall, stooping down a little so that she wasn't quite so visible, keeping watch for any soldiers coming close. The heat had started to get to her, being so used to the cold of Alaska, but the uniform began to do its work and helped keep her cool. A last sprint and Meryl was facing up to the wall that circled the building. Meryl ran her hand over the walls surface and followed it round to find footholds to allow her to climb. Most of it was almost completely smooth, coated in a layer of concrete and paint, but every so often, there'd be a block that would jut out or where the mortar between the blocks had crumbled and left a small gap. Meryl wasted no time in climbing up, digging her fingers into every available groove in the wall, slowly inching her way upwards and let her feet find footholds themselves. At times she was just gripping on with her fingertips and she put all her effort into clinging on to the vertical face. Near the top her arms and hands began to ache and just about to release their grip. The top was soon within her reach and Meryl let go of one hand, swinging up to the top edge and held on tight. Confident she wouldn't fall back down, she reached up with her other arm and pulled herself up just enough to peer through the razor wire and view what lay on the other side. There was more sand covering paving slabs and a few footprints where somebody had been.

What's that?!" Meryl gasped, just about loosing her hold and back into the dust. Voices that she couldn't understand came from over the wall. Meryl then decided it wouldn't be such a great idea to get up on top of the wall until she was directly in front of the window so shimmied hand over hand along the walls edge. The voices got closer to her until they were right in front on the other side.

"I can't wait for them to leave, what if somebody sees me or I loose my grip?" Meryl sighed to herself quietly. She'd have to go for it now soldiers or not. She pulled herself up and then pulled up her legs so she was balancing on top of the wall, trying to avoid being caught on the wire. The space between the wall and window was a couple of feet. Gingerly stepping over the wire, Meryl reached out with one hand for the windowsill. Sure she wouldn't fall Meryl pushed off from the wall and swung herself across, catching the window sill with her free hand and tucked her legs up ending up in the building and the pair of soldiers bellow unaware of her intrusion.

"Phew…" Meryl breathed as she landed crouching in the room and drew her M9. She felt her heart begin to race again.

"I made it, I sneaked in and nobody saw me!" She thought with glee. "So far, so good, but just watch you don't get too cocky and slip up." Meryl reminded herself and hid behind some cardboard boxes. Nobody was in the room with her but she could hear the noise of people moving about and chatter over radios. The realisation that she was in enemy territory was much stronger and Meryl was almost afraid to breathe in case it alerted them to her presence. It was very different from disguising herself in a soldier uniform and walking around the base, but it was something that Meryl did not want to repeat. If she was going to find Snake, she wanted to do it properly and prove that she was no longer the green rookie that she'd been on Shadow Moses. If anything, she had to prove it to herself.

≈≈≈≈≈≈

The screen in front of Ebony died down as she had enough of the training for the time being. She fumbled in the darkness for the door and pushed it open, blinking at the light outside of the virtual Gryphus.

"You did astonishingly well." The programmer exclaimed. "The next time you want to train perhaps I should make it harder?" He asked.

"Hmm?" Ebony wasn't paying attention, going over all that she'd soaked up about piloting Gryphus. "Yes, you could do that for me." She answered after noticing that it was she who was being spoken to. The radio in her pocket began to shake and Ebony knew that the caller meant she would have to go somewhere out of earshot from the scientists in the hangar.

Finding a quiet place, she took the radio out of her pocket to receive the message.

"Sorry Ayisha. I just finished the VR training for now and had to get out of their way before I could answer you." Ebony knew that while she wasn't near any of the engineers talking in English was dangerous so she had switched over to her mother tongue. At least that way, even if somebody did hear and could make out what she was saying, the meaning could be lost in a poor translation. Ebony always had the faint suspicion that what she said to soldiers and the other people on the base was being relayed to Ocelot, but still she held out trust to Ayisha

"The channel; is it secure?" Ebony continued.

"Yes I made sure and I am alone here. Anyway only you and I have these radios, and nobody else knows about them." Ayisha responded.

"What news do you have?"

"Nothing except that Snake is still alive but in no fit state when he left. That Ocelot..." Ayisha hissed. "I don't approve of him."

"What do you mean?" For a moment, Ebony was afraid that her last true ally was starting to loose faith in her cause.

"What he does. His 'hobby.'" Ayisha forced out after a second. "I know that Snake is our enemy, but did you have to hand him over to Ocelot for one round of torture?"

"If it meant securing the use of Gryphus, yes. I had to bargain with Snake. I know that your job is to save lives and heal people but I needed you there to save Snake in case Ocelot got carried away." Ebony explained.

"For you to punish more and to kill when you've tired of him?" Ayisha asked pointedly. "I know I've told you this a thousand times before but please be careful with Ocelot. I don't think he has anybody's interests at heart but his own in this. Whatever it is you're planning make sure he can't interfere because I'm frightened that it might be the end of you."

"I appreciate it Ayisha but I know what I'm doing." Ebony smiled.

"But he's given you free access to Gryphus. Don't you think that's a bit generous of him?" Ayisha asked.

"If it's a plan he's concocting then I'm ready to face it with my own. Believe me, I've thought about it." Ebony reassured her medic.

"Fine, I'll be in contact with you if anything develops." Ayisha said and closed off the connection.

Ebony sighed and rubbed her eyes, tired from staring at the VR screen for so long. Ayisha's words made her think as she made her way back to the barracks. Ocelot was after all an ex-member of FOXHOUND and the only last surviving one too. If that said anything, it told Ebony that Ocelot wouldn't be one to fade away easily. 

"Why did I not get considered for FOXHOUND? Surely Liquid must have thought it better if we were both in it together?" Ebony wondered. "But he wanted to go alone and deal with his problems himself." She reminded herself. "And even if I was offered a place what would have become of this place?" Ebony stopped to look around. "I couldn't leave all the soldiers alone here, I could never let them free because some of them have no other future but what is here and I couldn't bear to sell them out to FOXHOUND too. This is where I belong and I'll fight anybody for it."

≈≈≈≈≈≈

Mei Ling was just about to doze off as she heard a familiar bleeping in her headset at which she sat up straight an opened the channel. 

"Meryl, how is it going?" She asked. 

"Huh, I'm inside what I think might be one of the barracks on this base. There are two upper levels to it and I'm going to check out and see if there's and underground level too. This place looked pretty secure. I was pretty lucky I found a way in through a window and didn't have to go round to the main door." Meryl replied. "I can't believe this, I've infiltrated the base." She grinned.

"I hope Snake is alright." Mei Ling said softly.

"Yeah…" Meryl agreed quietly. "Look I'll go now and check this place out and see what I can find out about Snake's location. I really want to find him quickly." 

"Okay. I'll talk to you soon, Meryl." Mei Ling smiled again and they both signed off. She took off her headset and sighed, leaning on the control panel in front of her and all the data that was on the screens. She peered over her shoulder at all the other people in the room. The colonel was sitting talking with clerks. Naomi was probably in the medical room monitoring Meryl's readouts from her nanomachines and Hal was… well he'd been there earlier when she last looked around to see what was going on.

"Probably taking a break like I'm just about to do." Mei Ling thought to herself as she stretched and wheeled back from the controls.

"Colonel, I'm leaving for a break if that is fine with you. I won't be much more than 15 minutes and I've got a Codec link with Meryl on the same frequency if she calls." She told him before she left. He simply nodded and carried on with business looking at the satellite photographs she'd prepared.

She walked down the corridor to the small cafeteria and found Hal, sitting back in a chair, his nose buried in a manga comic book, a plastic cup full of steaming instant coffee from the vending machine on the table alongside his trusty laptop computer, no doubt plastered with the latest wallpaper of some anime.

"Ugh, Otacon, how can you drink that stuff?" She wrinkled her nose up at it as she went to find something, anything that would stave off tiredness that little bit longer except what Hal was drinking.

"What it lacks in taste it makes up for in caffeine." He smiled and put down his comic book. "Anything from Meryl yet?"

"I got a call before I left. She infiltrated some barracks and is on her way to find out the location of Snake. As yet she's made no mention of Metal Gear."

Hal sighed and Mei Ling could see that while he was relaxed for a moment, he was still very troubled deep down.

"I wish none of this had happened. It's not just this one, but it's all the others that might be out there that worries me. I mean, would that mean having to destroy them all?" He shook his head and took a drink from his cup.

"Snake isn't going to like that." Mei Ling added. 

"No he won't and I bet he'll be less than overjoyed about having to destroy this one, if there is such a thing on the base he's in. I doubt they're lying though. That Ebony doesn't look to be the bluffing kind. If she was serious enough to capture Snake then I guess she'd be serious about getting hold of a Metal Gear."

"With what intelligence we have about her she's a successful mercenary known world-wide. However, this is what gets me. When I was looking up more information on her to pass onto Meryl and Colonel Campbell, I hit a block. She did have a partner who worked very closely with her but when I try to find out who it is I hit a block and their details are closed of to all but those with the highest clearance." Mei Ling explained. Hal frowned.

"Strange. But why keep something like that locked up when it could be useful for a mission like this?" Hal asked her.

"I don't know but if I learned anything from the last mission it's that nothing is ever straight forward and there's always something left out to surprise us and they use the 'need to know' excuse to cover their backs." Mei Ling whispered leaning close to him. "I can only hope Snake has found out something that we haven't about Ebony that might add to the missing piece in her file." Mei Ling got up out of her chair to help herself to something to drink and leave Otacon to his own devices.

"But that is between you and me what I think about this." She said to him. "I'd ask you to hack into the files but could you imagine what would happen if we got found out?"

"It's not worth it." Hal agreed. "I know that the information could help Snake and Meryl but if we got caught..." he shook his head as Mei Ling left. As much as he wanted to, Hal knew that it was too dangerous and above all else, was lucky that the mission had gone ahead, even though it was only because of Metal Gear. Until it was found out if Snake had learned anything new about Ebony, Hal resisted the temptation to stop his anime screen saver and get hacking.

Chapter 8 coming soon…


End file.
